Army unveils real-life Star Wars lightsaber that slices through padlocks in seconds

The US military TEC Torch resembles the fictional Star Wars lightsaber

MILITARY officials unveil a new Star Wars inspired weapon that burns at 4,000 degrees and slices through steel in seconds.

 

The US Air Force this week unveiled a weapon that wouldn't look out of place on the set of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Dubbed TEC Torch, the lightsaber-like weapon is designed to help soldiers slice through locks and chains on the battlefield.

The blade burns at a staggering 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit and can slice through half-inch steel bars like butter.

 

Pushing the button the TEC Torch spews out a blade burning at 4,000 degrees

 

Dubbed TEC Torch, the lightsaber-like weapon is being used by fire-fighters

The US Air Force and Energetic Materials and Products joined forces to create the futuristic tool which was first developed for US Special Forces.

However the TEC Torch has since been been widely adopted by fire-fighters, who use the burning blade to cut through locks.

Amazingly, the torch burns with such ferocity that it can even be used underwater.

Explaining how the TEC Torch works, its makers said: "Combustion products jet through an engineered nozzle for approximately 2 seconds.

 

 

"The escaping jet is a combination of vaporised metal and particulate which quickly heat the target above its melting point and erodes the target material away."

EMPI, who produce the Torch, are currently making around 20 per day although this will soon increase to around 1,000.

Speaking about the safety of the tech torch EMPI said: "The system is designed to be SAFE.

"We have spent 1000's of engineer hours developing and scaling the TEC Torch cartridge from prototype to manufacturing stages.

"In-house and outside testing has been performed to verify function, reliability, and safety.

"We have put the product through a gamut of worst case and extreme scenarios to ensure operator safety."