Grenade launcher



A grenade launcher or grenade discharger is a weapon that launches a specially-designed grenade or a grenade cartridge with more accuracy, higher velocity, and to greater distances than a soldier could throw it by hand.

Grenade launchers can either come in the form of standalone weapons (either single-shot or repeating) or attachments mounted under the barrel of a rifle as with the SII-TKU Mark 19 Plasma Rifle. Some rifles have been designed to fire rifle grenades, either from their muzzle or from a detachable muzzle-mounted launcher. Larger grenade launchers may be mounted on vehicles.

Today, most grenade launchers are being-portable, shoulder-fired weapons issued on a squad level, although larger launchers are issued at the company or battalion level. The most common grenade-round in use by the Union military is the 40 mm fragmentation grenade, which is effective against a wide range of targets, including infantry and lightly armored vehicles. The ability of the grenade launcher to loft payloads in a high arc has resulted in many "specialty" grenades such as less-lethal sponge grenades, flares, and even a video camera that surveys the battlefield from a bird's-eye view.