A rocket launcher is a device that launches an unguided, rocket-propelled projectile, although the term is often used in reference to mechanisms that are portable and capable of being individually operated.

History

The earliest rocket launchers recorded in imperial China were arrows modified by a rocket motor being connected to the shaft just a few inches behind the arrowhead. The rocket is propelled by the black powder burning within the pump. (These rockets should not be confused with' rocket arrows' which are traditional arrows carrying tiny black powder tubes as an explosive that ignites only after the arrow hits its target. A fuse is ignited before the arrow is released.) The rocket launchers were made of wood, basketry and bamboo tubes.The launchers split the rockets with frames that were meant to keep them separate and the launchers were able to firing multiple rockets at once. The 1510 edition of the Wujing Zongyao, translated by Needham and others at Princeton University, includes textual evidence and drawings of various early rocket launchers. (The original Wujing Zongyao was written between 1040 and 1044, documenting the discovery of black powder but preceding the rocket invention. Limited versions of the original survived, and Wujing Zongyao was republished in 1231 during the Southern Song Dynasty;