Munitions



The collective term for all types of ammunition is munitions.

Ammunition (colloquially shortened to ammo) is propellant and projectile, or broadly anything that can be used in combat including bombs, missiles, warheads, any type of mines.

The word comes from the French la munition which is all material used for war.

The purpose of ammunition is to project force against a selected target. However, the nature of ammunition use also includes delivery or combat supporting munitions such as pyrotechnic or incendiary compounds. Since the design of the cartridge (aka round), the meaning has been transferred to the assembly of a projectile and its propellant in a single package.

Ammunition involves the application of fire to targets, general use of weapons by personnel, explosives and propellants, cartridge systems, high explosive projectiles (HE), warheads, shaped charge forms of attack on armor, air and/or space craft, fuzes, mortar ammunition, small arms ammunition, grenades, mines, pyrotechnics, improved conventional munitions, and terminally guided munition.