Soon, soldiers guarding India's icy borders to get indigenously developed clothing to beat cold

The soldiers guarding India’s borders with Pakistan and China in the icy heights of the Himalayas may soon have indigenously developed special clothing to keep themselves warm and fighting fit even in sub-zero temperatures.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Tuesday handed over the indigenously developed technology for manufacturing the Extreme Cold Weather Clothing Systems or ECWCSs to five domestic companies.

The Indian Army has so far been importing the ECWCSs and several Special Clothing and Mountaineering Equipment (SCME) items to protect its soldiers deployed in Siachen Glacier and other high altitude forward posts along the country’s borders with Pakistan and China in the Himalayas.

After the military stand-off between the Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in eastern Ladakh, India had to urgently import ECWCSs from the United States to protect the large number of soldiers it had deployed along the Line of Actual Control to counter the move by China to change the status quo along the disputed boundary and push it westward.

The ECWCS designed by the DRDO for indigenous production is an ergonomically designed modular technical clothing with improved thermal insulation and physiological comfort based on the insulation required at various ambient climatic conditions in Himalayan regions during different levels of physical activity.

The ECWCS embodies physiological concepts related to reduction in respiratory heat and water loss, unhindered range of motions and rapid absorption of sweat while providing waterproof, windproof features with adequate breathability and enhanced insulation as well as strength features required for high altitude operations.

The three-layered ECWCS is designed to suitably provide thermal insulation over a temperature range of +15 to -50° Celsius with different combinations of the layers and intensity of physical work, the DRDO stated in a press release.

The DRDO chairman G Satheesh Reddy formally handed over the technology for the indigenously developed ECWCSs to the representatives of five companies based in India. He stressed the need for developing indigenous industrial base for ECWCSs or SCME, not only to cater to the existing requirements of the Indian Army, but also to tap its potential for export to other countries.

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