Ballistic Knife

A ballistic knife is a specialized combat knife with a detachable, self-propelled blade that can be ejected to a distance of several meters by pressing a trigger or operating a lever or switch on the handle. Originally developed as a weapon for Soviet and Eastern Bloc military special forces, the ballistic knife was not adopted by the military forces of other nations. Spring-powered ballistic knives briefly gained notoriety in the United States in the mid-1980s after commercial examples were marketed and sold in the United States and other Western countries. Since then, the marketing and/or sale of ballistic knives to civilians has been restricted or prohibited by law in several countries.