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They call them<\/span> \u201cbox cutters,\u201d but everyone on the flightline knows what the term really means. The blades slide out at the push of a button, revealing high-end knives made and marketed for active combat. They cost the federal government hundreds of dollars each\u00a0\u2014 and come free to maintenance workers in the Air Force who order them through\u00a0the supply system and hand them out as favors.<\/p>\n For nearly a decade, Air Force maintenance units spent more than $1.79 million in taxpayer funds buying 5,166 high-end knives and other luxury items, including switchblades and combat-style tactical knives with no legitimate maintenance use, The Intercept has found. It\u2019s a drop in the bucket of a U.S. military budget creeping ever closer to a trillion dollars, about $300 billion of which belongs to the Air Force. But with a military budget so bloated, the knife-ordering frenzy illustrates how obviously frivolous spending can go unchecked.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone\u00a0knew we didn\u2019t need them,\u201d said a former noncommissioned officer recently honorably discharged from Hill Air Force Base. \u201cThere was literally zero justification in any maintenance field.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere was literally zero justification in any maintenance field.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n The Benchmade Infidel and Mini Infidel, the most popular choices, are sleek and black, with automatic blades that slide straight out the front. Their presence on the flightline, where maintainers work to repair and tune up airplanes between flights, is difficult to justify \u2014 and often outright banned. Procurement records obtained via Freedom of Information Act requests show that Air Force maintenance units have been buying the knives as far back as at least 2017 and as recently as June 2025, spanning multiple major commands.<\/p>\n Accounting for roughly a quarter of troops in the Air Force, maintainers are the technicians and mechanics responsible for upkeep of approximately 5,000 planes. They\u2019re chronically understaffed and overworked, as The Intercept previously reported, and maintainers spanning nine bases and major commands said that some of the crucial supplies they need for maintenance \u2014 like safety wire, specialized hydraulic fluids, and calibrated test equipment \u2014 are difficult to obtain. Maintainers said that while essential tools and materials were often delayed or unavailable, nonessential items like high-end knives moved easily through the supply system, likely due to an apparent misclassification, as a procurement expert explained to The Intercept.<\/p>\n \u201cIt always felt like we were just putting duct tape on these jets to keep them flying,\u201d said an active-duty senior airman who previously served in the 57th Maintenance Wing at Nellis Air Force Base. \u201cJets would come back with the same broken parts or worse, just so we could meet flight numbers. We never had money for proper tools, but there would be brand-new computers, unit flags, or other items to make the unit look better.\u201d<\/p>\n For some maintainers, the option to order\u00a0a shiny combat knife for free is something of a silver lining. \u201cThis is one of the only good things that maintainers get,\u201d said a former maintainer from Edwards Air Force Base.<\/p>\n In other cases, the knives were markers of inclusion. \u201cTech sergeants would come in for a short time and get a knife as a welcome present,\u201d said the former maintainer from Hill.<\/p>\n Nine current and former Air Force maintainers who spoke to The Intercept for this story were granted anonymity because they feared retaliation. As is common in the military, maintainers who raise concerns about excessive spending can face ostracization or professional consequences.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cIt wasn\u2019t like higher-ups would be mad if they caught you,\u201d said the source from Hill. \u201cThey had knives too.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWe were told that if you wanted one, all you had to do was be friends with people attached to the supply line,\u201d said a source who worked in the backshop at Nellis. \u201cI knew plenty of people who would do favors for supply troops to get their hands on a knife.\u201d<\/p>\n Six people stationed at Nellis between 2017 and 2024 confirmed that misuse of the supply system was common. One source said they still have six Benchmade knives, gifted by a noncommissioned officer in the 57th Wing. The source said they were never told how those knives were obtained.<\/p>\n More than 59 active-duty Air Force bases in the United States and numerous overseas installations operate under the same supply system. The Intercept submitted requests for procurement data to 28 Air Force bases and received responsive records from 12 installations. Every base that returned records showed similar knife-ordering patterns across its flightline maintenance units.<\/p>\n \u201cMost things were done with handshakes, winks and nods. Definitely a good ol\u2019 boys club,\u201d said Micah Templin, a former weapons troop in the 57th Maintenance Wing at Nellis. \u201cThere were quid pro quos and IOUs. If you did someone a favor one day, maybe your chief or leadership would feel comfortable looking the other way on another.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is one of the only good things that maintainers get.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n Sources from U.S. Air Force units in the continental United States, South Korea, and Germany\u00a0said personnel routinely used the term \u201cbox cutters\u201d as a euphemism for the knives. This made them sound simple and practical, several maintainers said, while the knives themselves were prized largely for their appearance, retail price, and the status of owning one rather than any maintenance-related use. Maintainers interviewed by The Intercept said the knives were popular largely because they \u201clook cool.\u201d<\/p>\n While Defense Logistics Agency records show how many knives were purchased overall, FOIA responses from individual bases offer only a partial picture of where those orders originated. But every installation that did provide records showed recognizable, suggesting the practice was not limited to a single base or command.<\/p>\n Several maintainers said they believed leadership used unit funds to purchase high-end items that were later diverted for personal use, describing a culture in which \u201cnothing was given out without a take.\u201d Maintainers said those who resisted or questioned practices could find themselves scrutinized or under extra pressure, which discouraged reporting and allowed misuse of the supply system to continue unchecked.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like maintainer leadership will legally do everything they can to keep someone from speaking out and do anything to protect their careers. That\u2019s the trend within senior leadership in maintenance,\u201d the backshop source said.<\/p>\n Seven sources from domestic and overseas units said this often means senior enlisted personnel direct junior troops to place orders, move items, or handle deliveries on their behalf. For those with access, it\u2019s easy to order items with minimal oversight. The practice, sources said, allowed leadership to benefit from questionable purchases while shielding themselves from scrutiny and leaving lower-ranking airmen exposed to potential disciplinary or legal consequences.<\/p>\n \u201cA tech sergeant ordered a ton of Yeti coolers and then told me to load them directly into his private vehicle.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n Knives were the most common example of the misspending, but maintainers described similar practices involving other high-end items. Five airmen who served in the 64th Aggressor Squadron\u2019s maintenance units at Nellis Air Force Base between 2018 and 2020 said senior noncommissioned officers in the squadron\u2019s Combat Oriented Supply Organization routinely ordered new flat-screen televisions for maintenance spaces, then placed the fully functional replaced sets into unit storage areas. According to the airmen, senior noncommissioned officers later removed some of the televisions from unit spaces for personal use.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember a time when a tech sergeant ordered a ton of Yeti coolers and then told me to load them directly into his private vehicle,\u201d said an active-duty avionics troop stationed in Europe, granted anonymity for fear of retaliation. \u201cIt was always ordered in ones and twos. Anything else would raise too much suspicion.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Dallas Sharrah, a former staff sergeant who served at Nellis Air Force Base: \u201cPeople were mainly ordering switchblades or Oakley sunglasses for their buddies. Supply could hook them up a bit before they got yelled at.\u201d<\/p>\n Outside of toolkits, knives are never allowed on the flightline. They\u2019re considered Foreign Object Debris, according to former maintenance officers, meaning they\u2019re at risk of being sucked into an aircraft intake and damaging the engine.<\/p>\n The Air Force Materiel Management Handbook says that all orders must be justified for official use, but classification issues in the procurement catalog blurred the lines that define what qualifies. The knives are broadly available through standard supply channels, making repeated or bulk orders easy to place. At Nellis, purchases often averaged 20 knives per order, with some as high as 47.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the aggregate, someone had to be doing an audit somewhere and said to themselves, \u2018Why did we order so many knives? Why are those requisitions restricted to certain bases and certain units? What is going on here?\u2019 Clearly, no one was looking,\u201d said Steve Leonard, a retired senior military strategist, procurement expert, and professor at the University of Kansas.<\/p>\n The procurement catalog is divided into subsections, Leonard explained, and knives were listed as Class IX, a category shared with maintenance-related items. But in his view, the knives should have been considered Class II items, which are intended for individual issue and subject to stricter justification, approval, and accountability requirements.<\/p>\n \u201cClearly, no one was looking.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n Items classified as Class II are typically restricted from purchase with unit funds if they primarily benefit individuals, while Class IX repair parts move through maintenance supply channels with far less scrutiny. \u201cMost people aren\u2019t interested in stealing hydraulic valves,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Defense Logistics Agency procurement records show the knives carry a \u201cJ\u201d security code, meaning they are treated as security-related items rather than maintenance equipment, a designation that undermines their classification as routine repair parts.<\/p>\n When asked about the findings, an Air Force spokesperson did not address specific allegations or installations. The Intercept provided the Department of the Air Force with FOIA records, national stock numbers, and other evidence of more than $1 million in suspect knife purchases across six installations.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Department of the Air Force takes all allegations of fraud seriously and has processes and procedures in place to investigate them,\u201d the spokesperson wrote in response. \u201cIf service members or citizens have concerns or evidence of specific wrongdoing, they are encouraged to report the information to local law enforcement or their Office of Special Investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n Benchmade, the manufacturer of the Infidel and Mini Infidel knives most named in procurement records and troop testimonies, declined to comment.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n
\u201cSupply Could Hook Them Up\u201d<\/h2>\n
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Costly Debris<\/h2>\n
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