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  • Air Force torch cuts through locks like a hot knife through butter

    by 
    Jon Fingas
    Jon Fingas
    11.18.2015

    Firefighters, police and soldiers don't have many good options when they want to breach a door: blowtorches and lock picks are usually slow, while battering rams, explosives and guns aren't exactly subtle. The US Air Force and EMPI recently crafted a far better solution, though. Their TEC Torch creates a brief but super-hot (5,000F) metal vapor jet that cuts through steel in less than a second, making short work of virtually any lock. In some ways, it's like Star Wars' Qui-Gon Jinn cutting through doors with a lightsaber -- it's just faster and less dramatic.