Flashbang grenade

The Flash-Bang Grenade or Stun grenade is a special type of grenade used by the UNSC. Unlike Fragmentation Grenades, these grenades are not necessarily lethal. They produce an extremely bright flash of light and a very loud noise when they go off, stunning targets, but doing very little physical damage to them. The primary purpose of a stun grenade is to temporarily blind and deafen the enemy. If looked at, or near the general location when it goes off in a small space, the image will be burned into the retina for a few minutes, leaving the victim "blind".

There are a variety of uses for these. They have been used in military exercises by the UNSC, at least since 2525. They are also occasionally used in combat as well, serving to confuse, disorient, or momentarily distract a potential threat for five to ten seconds. Although a flash-bang can seriously degrade the combat effectiveness of affected personnel for up to a minute, they are still vital in any hit-and-run operation.

In Halo 3 a similar piece of equipment, the Flare, is used to blind all nearby players except it lacks the deafening affect of a Flash-Bang but it does have a noise that can drown out certain other sounds.

Ash, in Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, along with the rest of his team had close experience with flash-bangs. Apparently they are hexagonal tubes.


 * In modern days, Flash-Bang Grenades are used in Special operations, by counter-terrorist forces, or specialists, to avoid casualties on both sides.

Triva

 * Military forces use the Flashbang grenade in the 21st century.
 * Some speculate that a flash-bang grenade was used by Marines during the Halo 2 demo.
 * Some people in Halo Custom Edition have made their own flashbangs.