Pisau tempur adalah sejenis pisau laga yang dirancang untuk keperluan militer dan terutama diperuntukkan dalam pergumulan satu lawan satu atau pertempuran jarak dekat.[1][2][3]
Sejak berakhirnya peperangan parit, kebanyakan pisau tempur militer dirancang untuk keperluan berfaedah lainnya (membabat dedauan, memotong dahan pohon, membuka peti amunisi, dsb.) di samping kegunaan sejatinya sebagai senjata pertarungan jarak dekat, dan dapat dikatakan sebagai pisau alat-laga.[4][5] Di sisi lain, pisau militer yang terutama dirancang untuk digunakan selain dalam pertempuran biasanya disebut dengan fungsi utamanya, misalnya "pisau utilitas" atau "pisau sintasan".
Catatan kaki
^Peterson, Harold L., Daggers and Fighting Knives of the Western World, Courier Dover Publications, ISBN 0486417433, 9780486417431 (2001), p. 80: "Right at the outset trench knives were introduced by both sides during World War I, so that the common soldier was once again equipped with a knife designed primarily for combat."
^Burton, Walter E., Knives For Fighting Men, Popular Science, July 1944, Vol. 145 No. 1, p. 150: A combat knife is specifically designed for military use, and is thus a more restrictive category than that of a fighting knife or tactical knife, either of which may include knives designed for civilian use. Thus, a bowie knife designed for civilian sale and use may be termed a fighting knife, but not a combat knife, while the U.S. Army's M3 trench knife, designed specifically for the military for close-quarters fighting, is both a combat knife and a fighting knife.
^Catalog of Standard Ordnance Items, Washington, D.C: U.S. Army Ordnance Publications (1943)
^Walker, Greg (1993). Battle Blades: A Professional's Guide to Combat/Fighting Knives. Boulder, Colo.: Paladin Press. hlm. 130. ISBN0-87364-732-7.
