Cold-weather warfare
Snow or ice may prevent detonation, owing to freezing the firing device or isolating from pressure above. This can be mitigated with plastic laid over the top of the mine.
Vehicles – Adaptations of military vehicles to winter operations include tire chains for maintaining traction of wheeled vehicles. Diesel engines start less well in cold and may require pre-heating or idling during cold periods. A variety of military vehicles have been developed for over-snow travel, including the Sisu Nasu, BvS 10, and M29 Weasel.

Military engineering: Military engineers design and construct transportation and troop-support facilities. In cold climates frozen ground can make digging difficult. Soviet Army doctrine gave them the responsibility to establish build and maintain routes, including water crossings, build and destroy obstacles that require special equipment, construct and maintain airfields, and to build shelter for personnel. Operations that didn't require special equipment were left to other troops. The Taschenbuch describes a variety of ways to employ local resources to create roads, shelters and fortifications.
Engineers provide roadways, landing zones, shelter, water supply and wastewater disposal, and electrical power to encampments. Roadway and landing zones require heavy equipment, which is more fatiguing to operate in the cold and necessary to protect from freezing. Snowstorms require cleanup and spring thaw requires management of thawed soil. Landing zones require stabilization of dust and snow to avoid blinding helicopter pilots. The U.S. Army has cold-weather adaptive kits for providing water and electrical utilities. The tactical engineer has limited options for providing a water supply; they are in order of ease of provision:  drawing water from rivers or lakes, melting ice or snow, or drilling wells.
Water supply and treatment is especially challenging in the cold. U.S. Army tactical water purification systems require a winter kit operate between 32 and −25 °F (0 and −32 °C). Water storage may require heating. Water source exploitation may require augering through ice, if shaped charges are not available. The water distribution system can be subject to freezing and clogging from frazil ice. Where chemical treatment is used, it takes longer to dissolve in the treated water.

Medicine: Three types of cold injury can occur in the theater, hypothermia, trench foot, and frostbite in ascending amount of exposure to cold temperatures.

Hypothermia: Hypothermia occurs when the body core temperature drops below 35 °C (95 °F). Symptoms depend on the temperature and range from shivering and mental confusion to increased risk of the heart stopping. The treatment of mild hypothermia involves warm drinks, warm clothing and physical activity. In those with moderate hypothermia heating blankets and warmed intravenous fluids are recommended. People with moderate or severe hypothermia should be moved gently. In severe hypothermia extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) or cardiopulmonary bypass may be useful. In those without a pulse cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is indicated along with the above measures. Rewarming is typically continued until a person's temperature is greater than 32 °C (90 °F). Adequate insulation from clothing is the best way to avoid hypothermia in the field.

Trench foot: Trench foot is a medical condition caused by prolonged exposure of the feet to damp, unsanitary, and cold conditions at temperatures as warm as 16 °C (61 °F) for as few as 13 hours. Exposure to these environmental conditions causes deterioration and destruction of the capillaries and leads to morbidity of the surrounding flesh. Affected feet may become numb, affected by erythema (turning red) or cyanosis (turning blue) as a result of poor blood supply, and may begin emanating a decaying odour if the early stages of necrosis (tissue death) set in. As the condition worsens, feet may also begin to swell. Advanced trench foot often involves blisters and open sores, which lead to fungal infections. If left untreated, trench foot usually results in gangrene, which may require amputation. If trench foot is treated properly, complete recovery is normal, though it is marked by severe short-term pain when feeling returns. Trench foot affected tens of thousands of soldiers engaged in trench warfare in World War I. Keeping feet warm and dry, or at least changing into warm and dry replacement footgear, is the best way to avoid trench foot.

Frostbite: Frostbite is localized damage to skin and other tissues due to freezing. At or below 0 °C (32 °F), blood vessels close to the skin start to constrict, and blood is shunted away from the extremities. The same response may also be a result of exposure to high winds. This constriction helps to preserve core body temperature. In extreme cold, or when the body is exposed to cold for long periods, this protective strategy can reduce blood flow in some areas of the body to dangerously low levels. This lack of blood leads to the eventual freezing and death of skin tissue in the affected areas. Frostbite was responsible for over one million casualties in wars in the 20th century. Adequate insulation from clothing is the best way to avoid hypothermia in the field.

Training by nation: The following nations report regular training programs in cold-weather warfare:

Canada – In 2008, the Canadian Forces established the Nanisivik Naval Facility, a winter warfare training center above the arctic circle in Resolute, Nunavut for annual exercises.
China – The People's Liberation Army trains annually in regions subject to harsh winter conditions. Lightly armed border patrol units are mounted on horseback or snowmobiles and are expected to provide early detection of incursion.
Finland – The Finnish Defence Forces train every conscript for skiing and Arctic warfare regardless of the branch, approximately 25,000 soldiers per year. Finland also trains U.S. Army students in Arctic warfare.
Germany – The Bundeswehr maintains its mountain troops in Bavaria. After the 2001 disbandment of the 1st Mountain Division, mountain troops were reorganized as the Gebirgsjägerbrigade 23 with a strength of 5,000 Troops.
India – The Indian Army trains 100 officers and 400 non-commissioned officers and junior commissioned officers annually, at its High Altitude Warfare School. Its graduates are assigned to the Siachen Glacier border garrison.
Iran – Members of the 65th Airborne Special Forces Brigade train for warfare on snow at their winter camp in Emamzadeh Hashem, Iran.
Italy - The Alpini are the Italian Army's specialist mountain infantry. Established in 1872, they are the oldest active mountain infantry in the world.
Japan – In the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, the Cold Weather Combat Training Unit (冬季戦技教育隊, Tōki Sengi Kyōiku-tai) is mandated for research and training for cold-weather warfare. The Winter Ranger Course (冬季遊撃課程, Tōki-Yūgeki-katei), the advanced post-graduate ranger training for cold-weather warfare, is established by this unit.
Norway – Hosts an annual, multi-national winter exercise Cold Response course. In 2016, the participants came from Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Latvia, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, the United States, the United Kingdom and Norway.
Russian Federation – Russia trains combined forces in winter annually. In 2013, it held four winter readiness exercises under shorter-than-usual notice, according to Wilk: A February exercise with seven thousand soldiers, several hundred fighting vehicles and 48 aircraft and helicopters and three March exercises, one using seven thousand soldiers, 250 fighting vehicles, 50 artillery units, 20 aircraft and helicopters as well as 36 warships. Training occurs at the Far Eastern Higher Combined Arms Command School in Blagoveshchensk in the Amur Oblast of eastern Russia. The school covers mountain and Arctic warfare and qualifies officers as "Commanders of Motorized Rifle Platoons (Arctic)".
Sweden - Since 1999 Sweden has operated the Swedish Armed Forced Winter Unit as apart of the Norrbotten Regiment in northern Sweden. The unit acts as the Swedish centre of knowledge regarding arctic warfare and is responsible for the development and training of arctic warfare doctrine. In 2024, an officer of the unit (Fredrik Flink) was awarded the Defense Meritorious Service Medal from the United States Special Operations Command for his role in training and developing arctic warfare doctrine for the 10th Special Forces Group.
United Kingdom – Royal Navy sailors and Royal Marines train in Norway above the Arctic Circle. The Royal Marines Mountain Leader Training Cadre is the UK premier cold-weather troop detachment.
United States – The U.S. military maintains cold-weather and mountain warfare training centers at the Army Northern Warfare Training Center at Fort Wainwright, Fairbanks, Alaska, the Army Mountain Warfare School at Camp Ethan Allen, Jericho, Vermont, the Special Forces Command Mountaineering Warfare Training Detachment at Fort Carson, Colorado Springs, Colorado, the U.S. Air Force Arctic Survival School at Eielson AFB, Alaska, and the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center, in Bridgeport, California.

Naval operations: Subfreezing conditions have significant implications for naval operations. The 1988 U.S.