Description
Most grenade launchers as of 2012 are man-portable, shoulder-fired weapons issued on a squad level, though larger launchers are sometimes mounted on armored vehicles. The most common grenade-round in use by modern militaries 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.
Heavier grenade launchers, such as automatic grenade launchers, are typically mounted on vehicles or in emplaced positions. These generally resemble a large machine-gun intended to rapidly launch grenades to suppress enemy activity in a target area.
Read more about this topic: Grenade Launcher
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