Mk V Tac Suit

Mk V Tac Suit
Official Name	Mark V Tactical Operations Suit
Type	Experimental Modular Uniform
Developer	Third Echelon
Primary Users	Splinter Cells
Succeeded By	Mark VII Special Operations Suit
Used By	Sam Fisher Agent One Agent Two
Appearances	SC - PT - CT - E - DA - B (DLC)

The Mark V Tactical Operations Suit (codenamed RhinoPlate) was an experimental uniform that was issued to Splinter Cells by Third Echelon for covert operations. The stealth suit helped Sam Fisher out on a number of missions during his time with Third Echelon. Fisher has always used some variation of the suit in almost all of the Splinter Cell games. Though the Mk V Tac Suit is generally thought of as a matte-black, skin-tight diving suit, it is a very modular system, capable of accepting many types of additions depending on the area that he is operating in. After its absence due to Sam's resignation from Third Echelon and his personal mission during the EMP Event in D.C. in 2011, the suit (now called the Upper Echelon Suit) made its return as a DLC in Splinter Cell: Blacklist as part of its "Upper Echelon Pack"edition.

Technical Information

The Mk V Tac Suit is a specially designed wetsuit made from a DARPA-invented version of Dragon Skin that fits tightly around Sam's body (similar to a bodysuit), making it almost impossible to hear it move. It has a weight of 4 pounds (unloaded) and a thickness of 8 millimeters (1/4 inches). The fabric of the suit is interwoven with Kevlar (outer layer), RhinoPlate (core material), and made of seventh generation Gore-Tex (inner layer), allowing it to reduce damage caused by bullets with relatively low velocity, such as pistol rounds and assault rifle rounds fired from long range, though it is relatively weak against bullets from closer ranges, as they maintain a faster velocity, and more power, and shrapnel from 12 feet.

The Gore-Tex was tested to maintain core body temperatures down to 15 degrees Fahrenheit with the hood up, and as high as 110 degrees. Sam could go ”from Alaska to the Sahara” and stay relatively comfortable. The outer layer of the Kevlar was treated with a polymer fiber similar to the coating on stealth aircraft: matte-black, slightly rough to the touch for maximum light absorption. The micro-roughened exterior partially defuses light. Basically about 30% of whatever photons strike the surface gets trapped, if only for a split second, but enough to diffuse them. Bottom line: The suit allows Sam to blend in with the shadows and darkness very well. The placement of pockets and equipment is also placed to break up the human silhouette that human eyes can easily make out in dark areas. The synthetic, glossy material and most of Sam's equipment are often a very dark color, almost black when viewed from a shadowy place, though upon closer inspection, the suit itself is actually a dark gray.

Though mostly wearing the standard matte-black suit, Fisher sometimes changes his suit to fit the appropriate conditions, such as jungle camouflage, a greyish-white snowsuit (seen during the "Nadezdha Nuclear Plant" mission, an exclusive level for the PS2 version of Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell), shorts with a short-sleeved shirt in hot environments, or multiple suit layers of a different color. The suit is likely a modular system and is customizable to the way the operator would feel comfortable. It can also be worn in conjunction with different tactical equipment and clothes.

Components

Sam's rebreather

• Combat Boots
• Assault Vest
• Utility Belt
• Combat Pants
• Nomex Balaclava
• Tactical Harness
• Kneepads
• Portable Transceiver (that emits light only visible to the player)
• Compact Rebreather (when extensive swimming will be required) (pictured)
• Tactical Hard-Knuckle Gloves (allowing for better hand-to-hand combat)

Features

Fisher explains a few of the features that his suit has. These features include:

• A thermoregulation (heating/cooling) system that uses water to maintain the suit's temperature.
• Kevlar, RhinoPlate, and Gore-Tex threads that are sewn in makes the suit almost bulletproof (as stated above).
• Photosensitive threads that detect lasers from snipers.
• Several bladders of water to sustain him for up to twelve hours.
• A light sensitivity/ambient noise meter (pictured) wired into a series of photocells embedded in the suit that provides real-time visibility and sound data. In Chaos Theory, the sound meter shows both the volume of the surrounding environment and the sound Sam makes.

  

  The light (top)/sound (bottom) meter's HUD, as seen in Chaos Theory.

Despite its utility, Fisher dislikes the suit's appearance. In the novel, he says "My only beef with the uniform is that it's so tight fitting and neat that it makes me look like a comic book superhero. Even my special headpiece looks like a mask when I have the goggles down."

Alternate Variations

Arctic

The Arctic variation is designed for use in the extreme cold, such as the operation in Iceland in Version 2 of Double Agent. Fisher maintains his standard suit, though on top of it he wears a blotchy tri-color camouflage hoodie and combat pants, likely made from a combination of wool and synthetic material. With this, he wears his standard leg holsters and a tactical chest harness holding two SC-20K magazines and two Five-seveN magazines. Fisher wears his normal combat boots and utility belt.

In Version 1 of Double Agent, Fisher is seen wearing the Mk V Tac Suit's diving variation during his mission in the Sea of Okhotsk, but with a solid grey-white color. With this, he wears his usual split-front chest rig and rebreather.

Urban/JBA

While Fisher has worn his suit in different styles while working in urban operations in the past, he is seen wearing an alternate version of the Urban variation during his time undercover. This variation consists of black cargo pants in a grey pixels camouflage pattern with a utility belt seemingly built in. It does not have kneepads, though they could possibly be internal. Sam wears a black knitted T-shirt. Over this he adopts an "ordinary" tight-fitting body vest with attachment points, likely made out of some sort of Kevlar and RhinoPlate combination for protection against firearms. He retains his thigh holsters and combat boots. He sometimes sports his usual Nomex balaclava and military gloves.

Desert

Instead of wearing of a Desert variation during his mission in Kinshasa, Fisher wears an alternate version of the variation, which is a desert outfit consisting of a sandy-brown, short-sleeve shirt under his combat vest, which is a MOLLE capable tactical vest with storage for multiple ammunition magazines, baggy flat dark earth cargo pants in a coyote brown blotchy camouflage pattern with sandy-brown knee pads and combat boots. He wears rose-brown colored aviators as opposed to Multi-Vision Goggles. He wears tactical fingerless gloves with the knuckles cut out.

Tropical

The Tropical variation is relatively simple, a grey and black diving sleeveless shirt and brown-and-black diving shorts, with brown fingerless gloves. Fisher wears diving boots (or booties).

Gallery

Remaining unseen is a very important factor for Fisher on his missions, thus wearing the right clothing was necessary. The following is a gallery of Sam's stealth suit from his previous missions:

Splinter Cell and Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow

Standard stealth suit. Suitable for urban use.

Fisher wearing a prototype of the Mk V Tac Suit's Diving configuration.

Fisher wearing the Jungle configuration from the Indonesia operation.

Photo0180.jpg

Fisher wearing the Arctic version of his tactical outfit as seen in the Nuclear Power Plant mission, a level exclusive to the PS2 version of SC.

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory

Fisher wearing the Mk V Tac Suit's standard Diving configuration from the "Cargo Ship", "Hokkaido" and "Kokubo Sosho" missions.

Fisher wearing a modified version of his Mk V Tac Suit from the "Penthouse", "Displace" and "Battery" missions.

Splinter Cell: Double Agent

Fisher wearing the Mk V Tac Suit's Arctic configuration from the "Sea of Okhotsk" mission.

Fisher wearing the Tropical configuration from the "Cozumel" mission.

Fisher wearing the Desert configuration from the "Kinshasa" mission.

Fisher wearing the Urban/JBA configuration from the "JBA HQ (1, 2 & 3)" and "Shanghai" operations.

Splinter Cell: Conviction

Concept art of a Splinter Cell.

Splinter Cell: Blacklist

Fisher wearing the "Upper Echelon Suit" (Mk V Tac Suit) in a pre-order image.

A Spy (Spies vs Mercs) wearing the Mk V Tac Suit in the "Scope Trailer".

Successor

File:Archer.jpg

Archer, wearing the Mk VII Spec Ops Suit.

Demonstrations at E3 and CES 10, as well as images in various magazines and websites, have revealed many of the details surrounding the stealth suits of Archer and other Third Echelon agents. Their suits appear to have a greater number of pouches and more gear-bearing equipment than Sam's standard suit, possibly reflecting the greater emphasis on the use of lethal force and their seeming new role as shock troops. Another addition is a matte-black assault vest that most likely contains some form of Kevlar or another bulletproof material. Other forms of protection such as shoulder pads, thick knee and shin guards and thick gauntlets can also be seen; in comparison to Sam's Mk V Tac Suit, the new suits given to these agents appear to be more advanced, a successor to the Mk V Tac Suit called the "Mark VII Special Operations Suit" (codenamed 3E Eclipse) or Mk VII Spec Ops Suit.

Another thing to note is the agents' new weaponry, such as a wide-radius EMP device, and the ability to carry a greater number of devices featured in previous games such as frag grenades.

Trivia

• Archer is not restricted to Third Echelon attire, and in various multiplayer trailers can be seen wearing typical military BDUs and even Sam's single-player outfit.
• Archer is also unique for having portable EMP as standard on his default suit, other Splinter Cells has SC knife in its place. 
• It is most likely that Ubisoft created Sam's suit as a reflection of his Navy SEAL days.

See also

• Splinter Cell program
• Mk VII Spec Ops Suit