ASEK

The Aircrew Survival Egress Knife or ASEK is a U.S. Army aircrew survival knife, designed and initially manufactured by the Ontario Knife Company, and entered service in 2003.^[1][2]

[edit] Development and Adoption

The ASEK replaced the World War II era survival knife (the Ka-Bar), which had a number of problems with the leather sheath and handle, the sharpening stone, and corrosion resistance. Requirements for the replacement knife, set by the United States Army Aviation Branch, included tests in:

• sawing through aircraft skin and acrylic glass windows
• cutting
• hammering

Required features included:

• a point used to stab
• a hand guard, durability
• light weight
• holes for tying the knife to a stick to act as a spear

Other features, such as an electrically insulated handle, were deemed desirable, but not required. Packaged in the sheath are a special tool for cutting seat belts and a diamond impregnated sharpening disk. The ASEK, made by Ontario, was adopted after trials by United States Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center in Natick, Massachusetts.^[2][3]

The US Army's Defense Supply Center purchased 11,881 Army ASEKS in 2004 and 2005 for equipping aviation life support equipment (ALSE) vests.^[4]

[edit] Features

It has a number of features that aid in escaping an aircraft, such as the ability to be used as a hammer to break acrylic glass cockpit windows and cut through an aircraft's aluminium skin. It may also be used as a screwdriver or precision edge marker. It includes a crushed diamond disk sharpener and a separate blade for cutting through seatbelt webbing.^[1] The knife is 10.25 inches (26.0 cm) in length, the blade is 5 inches (13 cm) in length, .1875 inches (4.76 mm) thick and constructed from 1095 carbon steel.^[2]

During the initial evaluation, an electrically insulated handle was considered to be desirable but not mandatory. The United States Army Aeromedical Research Lab (USAARL) considered the lack of insulated handle of the Ontario knife to be a catastrophic failure of the standard, and Ontario is redesigning their ASEK to meet this requirement.^[4]

[edit] Gerber LMF II ASEK

The Gerber LMF II ASEK used by SFC Johnson to sever the 220 volt line; arrows point to the minor damage done to the cutting edge by the current.

In May of 2005, Gerber Legendary Blades introduced its own ASEK compliant knife (available commercially under the name LMF II) to the military for evaluation. The Gerber ASEK met all requirements, and outperformed the Ontario model in the area of electrical insulation. The Gerber ASEK has been approved for purchase, and Gerber released an additional version with a foliage green handle to match the Army Combat Uniform. The knife also comes with a parachute cutter that has a separate sheath which can be attached to a MOLLE vest.

[edit] ASEK in use

In addition to the knives issued to Army aviation units, the ASEK is available for purchase by individual soldiers in other branches. In October 2005, a platoon of the 3rd Infantry Division on an IED patrol in Iraq was cut off by insurgents and took shelter in a building to wait for backup. The platoon was nearly discovered when the insurgents turned on the lights, but SFC Dillard Johnson, carrying a Gerber LMF II ASEK, was able to cut through a 220 volt electrical line and douse the lights, allowing the platoon to use their night vision advantage to neutralize the threats and wait for evacuation. While SFC Johnson realized the risk inherent in cutting through live electrical wires, he later said "I wasn’t exactly thrilled about having to cut hot lines, but in battle, you do what you have to do."

[edit] Sources

[edit] See also

• List of individual weapons of the U.S. Armed Forces
• M9 bayonet