The Corps plans to order up to 50,000 pairs of new intense cold weather boots as the Marine Corps continues to focus and hone skills in Arctic climates.
Details of the Corps’ new intense cold weather boots, including the number of boots the Corps may order, were posted in a solicitation and synopsis message on the government’s business opportunities website known as FedBizOpps on Aug. 21.
According to that posting, the Corps is interested in four styles of boots: the Belleville Intense Cold Weather, Danner Fort Lewis, Danner Acadia and the Solomon Quest GTX style boots.
Maj. Ken Kunze, a spokesman for Marine Corps Systems Command, told Marine Corps Times that the Corps “conducted rigorous testing” of the new cold weather boots, and that the first pairs would arrive at issue facilities in the summer of 2020.
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Kunze provided no other details regarding the new cold weather boots because a contract has yet to be awarded.
In June 2018 the Marine Corps announced it was ordering two types of intense cold weather boots and intense cold weather socks as part of an evaluation to look at commercial off-the-shelf solutions for new cold weather gear, according to a release.
Those boots and socks went through a field user evaluation at the Army’s Mountain Warfare Training Center at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, and in Norway, from December 2018 through March 2019.
Marines and soldiers conduct cold weather training and attend the cold-weather operations course at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin. And the Corps sends roughly 700-Marine sized rotations through Norway to help prepare the force for fighting in Arctic climates.
According to the posting on FedBizOpps, the new intense cold weather boots could weigh between 4 pounds and 4.9 pounds.
Shawn Snow is the senior reporter for Marine Corps Times and a Marine Corps veteran.
