Explosive ordnance disposal Marines will receive a new bomb suit in early 2020 that boasts increased protection while being lighter and more maneuverable than the current suit, the Corps announced in late October.
The EOD Advanced Bomb Suit is designed to protect Marines from blast “overpressure, shrapnel, heat and impacts” that they may encounter, meeting or exceeding the performance of the previous suit, a press release said.
The new suit is 15 percent lighter, Carl Fulmore, the U.S. director of business development and sales for Med-Eng told Marine Corps Times at the Modern Day Marine expo in Quantico, Virginia, in mid-September, where the new suit was on display. Med-Eng told Marine Corps Times Marines would receive the suit in November, but that date is now in early 2020, per the Marine Corps press release.
The suit boasts voice activated fans in the helmet and suit, according to Fulmore.
Fernando Pena, Marine Corps Systems Command’s project officer for the suit, said in the Marine Corps press release: “The new EOD bomb suit provides the warfighter with additional protection and flexibility. It is a superior suit compared with the previous system."
Despite the improved protection, the suit will give EOD Marines a greater range of motion and comfort and therefore also help reduce fatigue. The suit has an integrated ventilation system that is designed to reduce heat issues while making it easier to breathe.
“The foot protection, in particular, is much easier to walk in and provides much more comfort and protection," Master Sgt. Zachariah Kindvall, a Marine Corps Systems Command subject matter expert for the EOD bomb suit, said in the press release.
In 2014 the Marine Corps fielded its at-the-time innovative bomb suit, but even in 2017 Marines were vocally looking for a newer, lighter suit.
Col. Jeff Stower, in 2017 the commander of Logistic Combat Element Systems at Marine Corps Systems Command, told an audience at Modern Day Marine military expo at Quantico, Virginia, that the new suit would likely need to be lighter and also have a self-contained breathing apparatus.
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In July, Med-Eng announced a $10.2 million delivery order added to a 2017 Air Force contract for EOD suits and helmets. The July order was for “the U.S. Marine Corps with all deliveries being made to their bases across the U.S,” according to a July Med-Eng press release.
Kindvall added that increased mobility coupled with the lighter suit will make Marines more capable of completing their missions.
“Lightening the load gives Marines more flexibility during missions — even if it is just a reduction of a few pounds,” Kindvall said. “That weight reduction can be significant.”
One of the missions of previous Marine Commandant Gen. Robert Neller was decreasing the load carried by Marines, especially grunts.
“Weight is everything,” Gen. Robert B. Neller, the commandant of the Marine Corps, told reporters at a National Defense Industrial Association event in early March 2018.
Marine Corps Times editor Andrea Scott contributed to this report.
