The Armbrust (German for "Crossbow") is a late 70s lightweight 67mm single-shot unguided launcher. It was manufactured by Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm, who sold production rights to Chartered Industries of Singapore, now part of ST Kinetics, in 1988. The system uses a recoilless gun mechanism to fire a rocket-assisted projectile, with an interesting twist. Rather than just venting propellant gas to the rear, the inside of the Armbrust contains a cartridge which is essentially a double-ended captive piston, with the propellant inside it. As the propellant is ignited, the two ends of the piston extend: one launches the projectile, while the other ejects a mass of shredded plastic from the rear of the tube. Since the plastic is rapidly slowed by air resistance, this makes the weapon much safer to fire in confined spaces than venting propellant gas from the rear like a normal recoilless weapon. This mechanism was later used by the MATADOR.
The Armbrust and variants can be seen in the following films, television series, video games, and anime used by the following actors:
