M9 Fragmentation Grenade

## M9 High-Explosive Dual-Purpose grenade

Covenant

* Plasma Grenade
* Cluster Grenade
* Gravity Grenade
* Needle Grenade
* Brute Shot

The **M9 High-Explosive Dual-Purpose grenade** (abbreviated **M9 HE-DP grenade**), also known as the **Fragmentation Grenade**, shortened **Frag Grenade**, or simply **Frag**, is a UNSC-issued grenade that functions in a manner very similar to contemporary hand grenades.

## Overview & Background

HE-DP stands for High-Explosive Dual-Purpose. This designation means that it is designed to be effective against infantry and lightly armored vehicles. AP FRAG can be viewed on the *Halo: Combat Evolved* M9's olive casing. AP designates "anti-personnel," indicating the weapon's intended use.

The grenade has a hard metal casing, with a frangible design meant to break apart into small, regular shards. This surface creates consistent, reliable fragmentation patterns for the grenade, rather than randomly rupturing along metallurgical faults. The grid-shaped casing houses a charge of high-explosive fitted with a mechanical primer. When the charge detonates, it shatters the grenade's casing, sending shrapnel flying away at high velocity.

In all Halo games, the grenade must first hit the ground before exploding. In *Halo: Combat Evolved*, the grenade would not detonate mid-air.

The grenade is primed with a small button located on the "handle," quite unlike modern fragmentation grenades which use a pin that must be pulled before priming.

In *Halo: Combat Evolved*, the fragmentation grenade left a white smoke trail behind it when thrown and would create sparks when it landed after being hurled, indicating that the grenades fuse could be a gas-release system. The grenade would be primed with pressing a button, release gas when in mid-air and then detonate when landing in a static position. This would make the grenade's detonation system depend on placement rather than timed detonation.

## Gameplay Information

The frag is far more effective at killing enemy's that tend be slower or are in tight corridors. A good example of this is practice is in the level "Truth And Reconciliation" where Brutes, Jackals and Grunts can be easily cleared with one or two grenades.

### Advantages

* This grenade can be effectively hurled and bounced around corners.
	+ It travels farther than the Plasma grenade; this can be used to quickly and aptly damage an attacker before he can move away from it, giving you an instant advantage in the close combat situation.
	+ It is also harder to see and has a shorter fuse, therefore making it harder to avoid and more useful for killing enemies on foot.
	+ In *Halo: Combat Evolved*, it also seems to have a larger blast radius than a Plasma grenade.
	+ Since it is harder to see, having an enemy run over one by accident can happen more easily than with the bright blue Plasma grenade.

### Disadvantages

* Not entirely effective against Elites, Brutes, Hunters, or enemy vehicles because of larger health.
* Not very useful against Sentinels or anything else that can hover.

## Trivia

* In *Halo: Combat Evolved*, the Frag grenade is smaller when inactive but when thrown/used, the grenade strangely has a larger size.
* Unlike modern grenades, the M9 HE-DP cannot be cooked and detonates nearly instantaneously after striking the ground, therefore eliminating the chance of picking it up and throwing it away (this can't be done in-game anyway). Also, because it can't be cooked, throwers cannot make it explode in mid-air.

## Gallery

Thrown Frag Grenade.Frag Grenade's smoke trail.Frag Grenade explosion.Ditto.