The "survival knife" that airplane and helicopter crews carry, for use if they crash, has not changed much since World War II. Someone finally noticed that helicopters crash a lot more than airplanes, and the crew are often under tremendous time pressure (the chopper is about to explode, or is under water) to get out. But often the seat belt is jammed, and the fuselage is warped so that exists are blocked. So the army developed a new "survival knife" that is actually a multi-purpose tool that will address all of these problems. This is ASEK (Aircrew Survival Egress Knife), that can slice through seat belts quickly and easily. ASEK can also cut through Plexiglas windows aluminum skin of helicopters. The tool is carried in a multifunction sheath, and can also be used as a hammer, a screwdriver and a precision-edge marker. Each ASEK comes with a crushed diamond disk that will keep the cutting edges extremely sharp. A commercial version will probably sell for about $50.
