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Headquartered in the Italian city of Maniago and founded in 1977 by Mr. Oreste Frati, the Fox Cutlery company has built itself a strong reputation all throughout the years as a manufacturer of utility, security, defensive and general purposes blades, knives, and other similar tools. The Fox Knives Military Division (FKMD) is also well known as a manufacturer of bayonets, survival knives, combat knives, utility tools and other professional-purpose blades, and is a globally acknowledged player in the field.
At the 2014 edition of the EUROSATORY defense expo in Paris - nord Villepinte, the Fox Cutlery company was showcasing some of its finest and most advanced defense-oriented products, from bayonets to survival blades, and the AVES model was definitely the one that gathered attention and interest from the highly qualified visitors of the event.
The AVES achronym identifies the Italian Army Air Corps, and as a matter of fact, Fox Cutlery developed the AVES model in close collaboration with the pilots and aircrewmen of the Italian Army's combat and transport helicopters, and of all the other light aircrafts it operates. It has been specifically conceived to satisfy the everchanging needs of such a highly specialized branch of the forces, and will definitely be useful for tactical, security, utility and rescue/emergency purposes.
The Fox AVES knife is 28cm. long and almost half a kilogram heavy, and comes with a 14.5-centimetres long, 6mm thick blade manufactured out of N690Co, HRC 58-60, DLC-coated stainless steel, featuring a cutting hook that was designed to quickly set the user free from safety belts or from the cords of a parachute after an emergency evacuation or an air launch. A knife sharpener and a firestarter are also hosted inside the grip, and can be accessed by screwing out the checkered G10 grip scales. The Fox AVES knife is already available worldwide for individual purchase − by both civilian collectors and tactical operators − as well as for bulk purchase and adoption, and ships with two sheats: a standard military green cordura thigh sheath and a kydex sheath that was specifically conceived to allow the use of the belt-cutting hook without requiring extraction of the knife itself.
