Samelin Combat Boots Spotted at WDS24

WDS24, the recent World Defence Show in Riyadh, gave the opportunity to familiarise with the latest Samelin Combat Boots from Estonia, writes Bob Morrison.

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AS Samelin, the Tartu-based footwear manufacturer which celebrated its 30th anniversary in its current form on 7th February this year, also displayed at DSEI in London last September so I already had a fair knowledge of their current combat and patrol boot core models. However in Saudi Arabia they were exhibiting a new Desert Combat Boot and also had a prototype Jungle Boot on the stand, so I grabbed the chance to photograph both.

It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that these boot models might be suitable for Lot No 4 – Desert High Liability Boots and Lot No 1 – Jungle Boots categories of the recently publicised UK MoD Contract Notice but that is just a guess on my part as I snapped them for the record two days before the UK MoD requirements were published on 6th February and therefore before the Samelin team had been able to evaluate precisely what would be needed. Although Samelin boots are worn by other NATO nations they have not previously been procured for UK Land Forces, but as the agents for UK MoD have stated in the Contact Notice they do not wish to “deter new entrants to the market” and as the Estonian company also produces Combat High Liability, Cold Wet Weather and Patrol boot models it would not surprise me if the Estonian manufacturer was one of those Invited to Tender for the supply of UK Combat Footwear over the 2026-2033 timeframe.

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• See also:- SAMELIN All-Seasons Military Service Combat Boot

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