Munition is often defined as a synonym for ammunition. A slightly broader definition would include bombs, missiles, warheads, and mines (landmines, naval mines, and claymore mines) -- what munitions factories manufacture. These munitions are flung all over battlefields and war zones with lethal intent; unexploded ones may pose a hazard to civilians for years afterwards. The Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) contains no explosives itself; it attaches to a gravity bomb to make it into a smart bomb. The Special Atomic Demolition Munition (SADM) was a man-portable nuclear weapon.

Encryption software may also be considered a munition. Until 1996, U.S. Government ITAR (International Trafficking in Arams Regulations) prohibited the export of anything stronger than 40-bit encryption. One man decided to become a munition himself!

The U.S. Department of State Directorate of Defense Trade Controls has published the United States Munitions List with 21 categories of munitions:

1. Firearms, Close Assault Weapons and Combat Shotguns
2. Guns and Armament
3. Ammunition/Ordinance
4. Launch Vehicles, Guided Missiles, Ballistic Missiles, Rockets, Torpedoes, Bombs, and Mines
5. Explosives and Energetic Materials, Propellants, Incendiary Agents, and Their Constituents
6. Vessels of War and Special Naval Equipment
7. Tanks and Military Vehicles
8. Aircraft and Associated Equipment
9. Military Training Equipment
10. Protective Personnel Equipment
11. Military Electronics
12. Fire Control, Range Finder, Optical and Guidance and Control Equipment
13. Auxiliary Military Equipment
14. Toxicological Agents, Including Chemical Agents, Biological Agents, and Associated Equipment
15. Spacecraft Systems and Associated Equipment
16. Nuclear Weapons, Design and Testing Related Items
17. Classified Articles, Technical Data and Defense Services Not Otherwise Enumerated
18. Directed Energy Weapons
19. [Reserved]
20. Submersible Vessels, Oceanographic and Associated Equipment
21. Miscellaneous Articles

The Bible mentions "munition" in this general sense of "weapons of war": And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her munition, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision. (Isaiah 29:7)