A rocket launcher is any device that launches a rocket

Rocket

A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction...

-propelled projectile

Projectile

A projectile is any object projected into space by the exertion of a force. Although a thrown baseball is technically a projectile too, the term more commonly refers to a weapon....

, although the term is often used in reference to mechanisms that are portable and capable of being operated by an individual.

Weapon systems that fall into this category include the shoulder-launched missile weapon

Shoulder-launched missile weapon

A shoulder-fired missile, shoulder-launched missile or man-portable missile is a projectile fired at a target, small enough to be carried by a single person, and fired while held on one's shoulder...

, the wider international term for any weapon that fires a rocket-propelled projectile at a target, yet is small enough to be carried by a single person, and fired while held on one's shoulder. However, the term bazooka

Bazooka

Bazooka is the common name for a man-portable recoilless rocket antitank weapon, widely fielded by the U.S. Army. Also referred to as the "Stovepipe", the innovative bazooka was amongst the first-generation of rocket propelled anti-tank weapons used in infantry combat...

, is also often used for any shoulder-launched rocket weapon. Specific types of rocket launchers within this group include the rocket-propelled grenade, better known as the RPG, which is a type of shoulder-launched anti-tank weapon designed by the Soviet Union; the anti-tank guided missile

Anti-tank guided missile

An anti-tank missile , anti-tank guided missile , anti-tank guided weapon or anti-armor guided weapon is a guided missile primarily designed to hit and destroy heavily-armored military vehicles....

, a guided missile primarily designed to hit and destroy heavily-armored tanks and other armored fighting vehicles; and the Man-portable air-defense systems, which provides shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles. A smaller variation is the gyrojet

Gyrojet

The Gyrojet is a family of unique firearms developed in the 1960s named for the method of gyroscopically stabilizing its projectiles. Gyrojets fire small rockets, rather than inert bullets, which have little recoil and do not require a heavy barrel to resist the pressure of the combustion gases. ...

, a small arm rocket launcher with ammunition

Ammunition

Ammunition is a generic term derived from the French language la munition which embraced all material used for war , but which in time came to refer specifically to gunpowder and artillery. The collective term for all types of ammunition is munitions...

 slightly larger than that of a .45-caliber pistol

.45 ACP

The .45 ACP , also known as the .45 Auto by C.I.P., is a cartridge designed by John Browning in 1904, for use in his prototype Colt semi-automatic .45 pistol and eventually the M1911 pistol adopted by the United States Army in 1911.-Design and history:The U.S...

. Recoilless rifle

Recoilless rifle

A recoilless rifle or recoilless gun is a lightweight weapon that fires a heavier projectile than would be practical to fire from a recoiling weapon of comparable size. Technically, only devices that use a rifled barrel are recoilless rifles. Smoothbore variants are recoilless guns...

s are sometimes confused with rocket launchers. However, the recoilless rifle merely fires a large-sized bullet-like projectile, and not a projectile that continues to propel itself after leaving the barrel of the weapon.

Larger-scale devices which serve to launch rockets include the multiple rocket launcher

Multiple rocket launcher

A multiple rocket launcher is a type of unguided rocket artillery system. Like other rocket artillery, multiple rocket launchers are less accurate and have a much lower rate of fire than batteries of traditional artillery guns...

, a type of unguided rocket artillery

Artillery

Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...

 system; the transporter erector launcher

Transporter erector launcher

A transporter erector launcher is a vehicle with an integrated prime mover that can carry, elevate to firing position and launch one or more missiles. Such vehicles exist for both surface-to-air missiles and surface-to-surface missiles...

, a vehicle with an integrated prime mover that can carry, elevate to firing position and launch one or more missiles and various launchers for guided missile

Guided Missile

Guided Missile is a London based independent record label set up by Paul Kearney in 1994.Guided Missile has always focused on 'the underground', preferring to put out a steady flow of releases and developing the numerous GM events around London and beyond....

s, including ones for surface-to-air missile

Surface-to-air missile

A surface-to-air missile or ground-to-air missile is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles...

s, anti-ship missile

Anti-ship missile

Anti-ship missiles are guided missiles that are designed for use against ships and large boats. Most anti-ship missiles are of the sea-skimming type, many use a combination of inertial guidance and radar homing...

s, and antisubmarine warfare guided missiles (see ASROC

ASROC

ASROC is an all-weather, all sea-conditions anti-submarine missile system. Developed by the United States Navy in the 1950s, it was deployed in the 1960s, updated in the 1990s, and eventually installed on over 200 USN surface ships, specifically cruisers, destroyers, and frigates...

, Sea Lance

Sea Lance

The UUM-125 Sea Lance was authorized in 1980 as a successor to both the UUM-44 SUBROC and RUR-5 ASROC anti-submarine missiles. The Sea Lance was to be available in two versions, known as UUM-125A and RUM-125A...

, etc.)

The largest scale currently existing device that can be considered a rocket launcher is the launch pad

Launch pad

A launch pad is the area and facilities where rockets or spacecraft lift off. A spaceport can contain one or many launch pads. A typical launch pad consists of the service and umbilical structures. The service structure provides an access platform to inspect the launch vehicle prior to launch....

, the area and facilities where rockets or spacecraft

Spacecraft

A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....

liftoff. However, the launch pad itself is more of a platform, and serve only a minimal role in aiming or controlling the path of the launched object.