Marine Corps in Final Phase of Selecting an Intense Cold Weather Boot

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A Marine with Combat Logistics Battalion 26, Headquarters Regiment, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, adjusts his skis during a training exercise aboard U.S. Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center in Bridgeport, California, Jan. 20, 2015. (U.S. Marine Corps/Lance Cpl. Kaitlyn Klein)
A Marine with Combat Logistics Battalion 26, Headquarters Regiment, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, adjusts his skis during a training exercise aboard U.S. Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center in Bridgeport, California, Jan. 20, 2015. (U.S. Marine Corps/Lance Cpl. Kaitlyn Klein)

The Marine Corps recently asked bootmakers to submit designs for cold weather boots built to keep Marines' feet warm in conditions between 20 and minus-20 degrees Fahrenheit, a temperature range current-issue boots can't handle.

The current Temperate Weather Marine Corps Combat Boot was designed to perform from 60 degrees Fahrenheit down to 20, and the Extreme Cold Weather Vapor Barrier Boot is intended for use between minus-20 and minus-65 degrees Fahrenheit, Marine officials say.

To fill this performance gap, Marine equipment officials put out an Aug. 21 solicitation looking for a company that can produce up to 50,000 pairs of Intense Cold Weather Boots that are equal to the performance of four previously tested boots -- Belleville Intense Cold Weather Style Number 455, Danner Fort Lewis Style Number 69110, Danner Acadia Style Number 69210, and Salomon Quest GTX Style Number L40723300, according to the solicitation's Statement of Work document.

Marine Corps Times was first to report on this effort.

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The Marine Corps tested those four brands and is using those as a baseline for the capability requirement for an "eventual cold weather boot award," Maj. Ken Kunze, a spokesman for Marine Corps Systems Command, told Military.com.

The solicitation requires that the boots feature 200 grams of insulation and are able to perform in cold weather environments for up to 12 months, according to the solicitation. The boots must weigh between 4 pounds and 4.9 pounds and be constructed of full-grain black leather, it adds.

In 2018, the Corps' Program Manager Infantry Combat Equipment began an effort to test two types of Intense Cold Weather Boots, along with cold weather socks, that involved evaluations at the Mountain Warfare Training Center in California; Fort McCoy, Wisconsin; and in Norway.

-- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com.

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