Grenade Launcher with old, used, PBR material
A grenade launcher is a weapon that fires a specially-designed large-caliber projectile, often with an explosive, smoke, or gas warhead. Today, the term generally refers to a class of dedicated firearms firing unitary grenade cartridges. The most common type are man-portable, shoulder-fired weapons issued to individuals, although larger crew-served launchers are issued at higher levels of the organization by military forces.
Grenade launchers can either come in the form of standalone weapons (either single-shot or repeating) or attachments mounted to a parent firearm, usually a rifle.Some armored fighting vehicles also mount fixed arrays of short-range, single-shot grenade launchers as a means of defense.