And also, quite exaggerating my point. I said that I'd only have a few of these suits, that they were expensive, and that they'd only be at high-priority places or people. Not that I'd have an entire army of them.

I say a few, and you go off on some kind of educational rant about how stupid it would be to arm my entire military with the suits, about how we're not supposed to have these Halo high-tier suits.

THEY AREN'T THAT POWERFUL. THEY AREN'T THAT NUMEROUS.
The APIRCA was funded by the UN, but mainly the US, before they broke apart. While the US Dollar would probably be worth even less, the story is that they were funded heavily by them. That way, they had developed the technology, and it wouldn't be lost because the APIRCA is based on hundreds of ships, that are constantly moving, and meant to be hard to find in the first place. There would be no major loss from a war of bombings and missile strikes, because APIRCA would be moving around in all directions, so effectively crippling them would only be by taking down those they purchase supplies from. And they can buy supplies from anyone who wants weapons, or body armor, or tools, or any of that.