New military boots of Croatian manufacturers presented

“This project completes the plan of the Croatian soldiers who will be equipped with Croatian products from head to toe, dressed in the Croatian uniform with the Croatian helmet, armed with a homemade gun and a domestic assault rifle, and booted in the Croatian boots”, said the Minister during the presentation of new military boots. He emphasized that the Ministry of Defence was extremely pleased by the fact that the development of this product included the “Community of the Bidders” because bidding was opened for domestic and foreign companies and where Croatian quality won. The Minister also stressed that in equipping of Croatian soldiers the Ministry of Defence had not and would not be willing to accept compromise when it comes to quality. “According to all tests conducted in the last two years Croatian boots proved to be an excellent product. The entire project is an incentive of MOD to domestic economic entities, and this is just another proof of the quality of Croatian military industry, for which Croatian soldier equipped in this way will be the most important reference for appearance on third markets”, Defence Minister Davor Bozinovic said. He also pointed out that the Ministry of Defence for the purchase of shoes, according to this Agreement, will invest about 19 million kunas including VAT from the budget this year. Price of boots is 580 kunas without VAT, which compared to imported boots with the same characteristics was significantly cheaper.

Satisfaction with the new military boots also expressed Chief of Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Drago Lovric adding that the Croatian military boots were developed within the project of equipping the Croatian soldier for 21 century. “Our troops have been testing new military boots of desert colours in international peacekeeping missions and operations in Afghanistan and Syria, and the results showed that the boots were excellent”, General Lovric said, adding that the MOD and the Armed Forces have decided to acquire this new military boots for longer period and that for the equipping members of the Croatian Armed Forces each year we need around 6500-7000 pieces.

On behalf of the “Bidders Community”, representative of the INKOP Footwear Ltd. Company from Poznanovec Ivan Rogan thanked the MOD for the trust given to create a new military boots, emphasizing that the Defence Ministry on this project put the “ladder” very high, but “Bidders Community” has managed to respond well to high standards set. “Through this four-year project of creating the new boots we will ensure the stability and professionalism of companies of “Bidders Community” and work for about 1 000 people. Besides that, we managed to get a quality and distinctive Croatian product and managed to save financial resources from the budget since new boots will cost about 40% less than the competition, which produce same or similar products”, Rogan concluded.

New Croatian military boots for the equipping of the CAF have different technical features compared to old boots. Entirely new mold of winter and summer boots has been made, black boots and the desert version of boots for the peacekeeping mission. Innovative materials were used in the manufacture of footwear for special purposes, such as membrane and waterproof properties. The same was accepted by the MOD military-technical council in late 2010, based on two years of development with Technical and technological Faculty from Zagreb. During testing in the CAF units and in peacekeeping missions abroad, in all conditions and at different sites in the past two years boots were rated as extremely well.

The contract for the supply of shoes for members of the Croatian Armed Forces – soldiers’ boots and shoes, safety and sports footwear between the MOD and the “Community of the Bidders” is worth a total of 19.02 million kunas. Military boots are worth approximately 17 millions including VAT, while the remaining amount relates to the military official shoes, athletic shoes, protective and occupational footwear.

Delivery of boots will be carried out successively, and the deadline for this year’s delivery is expected in mid this year. The amount is nearly 24 000 boots, of which approximately 15 000 summer and 9 000 winter boots. It is expected that members of the Armed Forces will get one pair of winter and one pair of summer boots every two years.