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Air Force Maintenance Staff Can’t Stop Buying Fancy Knives With Tax Dollars

“Everyone knew we didn’t need them.” Air Force maintainers have been on a decadelong knife-ordering spree.

They call them “box cutters,” 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 — and come free to maintenance workers in the Air Force who order them through the supply system and hand them out as favors.

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’s 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.

“Everyone knew we didn’t need them,” said a former noncommissioned officer recently honorably discharged from Hill Air Force Base. “There was literally zero justification in any maintenance field.”

“There was literally zero justification in any maintenance field.”

“There was literally zero justification in any maintenance field.”

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 — 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.

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’re 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 — like safety wire, specialized hydraulic fluids, and calibrated test equipment — 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.

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“It always felt like we were just putting duct tape on these jets to keep them flying,” said an active-duty senior airman who previously served in the 57th Maintenance Wing at Nellis Air Force Base. “Jets 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.”

For some maintainers, the option to order a shiny combat knife for free is something of a silver lining. “This is one of the only good things that maintainers get,” said a former maintainer from Edwards Air Force Base.

In other cases, the knives were markers of inclusion. “Tech sergeants would come in for a short time and get a knife as a welcome present,” said the former maintainer from Hill.

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.

 “It wasn’t like higher-ups would be mad if they caught you,” said the source from Hill. “They had knives too.”

“Supply Could Hook Them Up”

“We were told that if you wanted one, all you had to do was be friends with people attached to the supply line,” said a source who worked in the backshop at Nellis. “I knew plenty of people who would do favors for supply troops to get their hands on a knife.”

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.

More than 59 active-duty Air Force bases in the United........

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