Picture: Sergeant Rupert Frere, Crown Copyright/MOD 2010
Note the continued use of US 6 colour desert (“choc-chip”) camouflage mesh, seventeen years after it passed out of service in the US military! Also of note is the L22A2 carbine version of the standard British 5.56mm rifle, issued to vehicle crews.
…. well, for some of them anyway. The article below is reproduced courtesy of Strategy Page. All errors with reference to the ABU (Airman Battle Uniform) and UCP (Universal Camouflage Pattern) are theirs 
September 17, 2010: U.S. Air force personnel in Afghanistan have been buying (or scrounging from kindly army supply sergeants) the new MultiCam pattern uniforms. That’s because the air force uses a different camouflage pattern for their field uniforms, and when air force air controllers (who call in air strikes) move through the hills with army troops, it’s obvious from a distance who the air force personnel are. Actually, it makes all the troops more visible, because the MultiCam is pretty good at hiding those wearing it, but the difference between the air force camo and the MultiCam is so striking that the entire group of troops becomes more visible. The air force brass eventually got the message, and have started buying MultiCam uniforms for air force troops operating in combat along with army troops.
This was not the first problem of this sort. While the MultiCam was a an improvement on the older ACU pattern uniforms, the troops did not get new packs (which also use camo pattern cloth) at the same time they received the MultiCam uniforms. Thus when troops went off into the hills, the combination of MultiCam uniforms and ACU pattern packs do a lot to ruin the camouflage effect.
The U.S. military has been having a tough decade when it comes to camouflage uniforms. Since September 11, 2001, the U.S. Army has changed camouflage patterns for their combat uniforms twice. First it was the adoption of digital patterns, then the current move to MultiCam.
It was SOCOM (special operations command) troops who first had second thoughts about the older digital camo pattern. The digital camouflage pattern uses “pixels” (little square or round spots of color, like you will find on your computer monitor if you look very closely), instead of just splotches of different colors. Naturally, this was called “digital camouflage.” This pattern proved considerably more effective at hiding troops than older methods.
For example, in tests, it was found that soldiers wearing digital pattern uniforms were 50 percent more likely to escape detection by other troops, than if they were wearing standard green uniforms. What made the digital pattern work was the way the human brain processed information. The small “pixels” of color on the cloth makes the human brain see vegetation and terrain, not people. One could provide a more technical explanation, but the “brain processing” one pretty much says it all. Another advantage of the digital patterns is that they can also fool troops using night vision scopes. American troops are increasingly running up against opponents who have night optics, so wearing a camouflage pattern that looks like vegetation to someone with a night scope, is useful.
But digital doesn’t rule, at least not when price is no object. The runner-up in the competition was a non-digital pattern called MultiCam (cleverly designed to hide troops in many different environments). Many in the army preferred this one, but the difference, in tests, between it and the winner, digital ACU, was not that great. Moreover, MultiCam was about three times more expensive.
However, SOCOM operators have their own budget, and had many of their guys out in the field wearing MultiCam, rather than the digital ACU. Now SOCOM has always had a larger budget, per capita, than the rest of the army, and its operators had a lot of discretion to use whatever weapons or gear they thought best for the job. Apparently, on some jobs, MultiCam was considered more suitable than digital ACU. That said, there have been few complaints from soldiers about ACU, which measures up to MultiCam in most particulars, and it a lot cheaper.
Eventually, the services decided that if MultiCam provided even a small advantage over digital, than MultiCam was the way to go. The British Army thought the same thing, and are now sending new uniforms, using a version of MultiCam, to their troops. But for the new MultiCam to work, everything the troops wear has to be MultiCam. And everyone out with the troops, especially air force air controllers, need to be dressed in MultiCam as well.
My colleague Lawrence, over at Strike-Hold, picked up on some news out of Afghanistan which reveals that the Afghan National Civil Order Police are being kitted out in a desert coloured variant of Hyperstealth’s Spec4ce digital camouflage. The colours, while not the same, remind me of a mix between the old US 3 colour Desert Camouflage Uniform and Canada’s CADPAT Arid Regions.
The pale minty green background colour is not as out of place as one might think – from just a short distance away the hue fades to a greyish colour and the browner tones in the pattern dominate.
New photos on the Australian Department of Defence (DoD) website show a variation of their armed forces’ iconic ‘bunny’ or ‘jelly bean’ Disruptive Pattern Uniform (DPU). The colourway looks to be optimised for semi-arid regions like Afghanistan, and according to a source at the International Camouflage Uniform Society
The Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) developed a mid point colour set that may better meet the range of environments that deployed troops are encountering, particularly within Afghanistan.
In December 2009, the Chief of Army directed an in-theatre trial of the new pattern to confirm its effectiveness. This uniform is referred to as Disruptive Pattern Mid-Point Uniform (DPMU). Subject to the successful outcome of the Australian and in-theatre trials, Army intends to roll the DPMU uniform out to deployed troops as quickly as possible.
The picture above (photo by SGT Brent Tero) illustrates the desert (DPDU) and standard colourways alongside the new Mid-Point variaton.
Here is a clearer view of the colours (photo by SGT Brent Tero). Visit the Australian DoD web gallery for Operation Slipper to see more.
1 Mercians patrol in Helmand in their new MTP uniforms. Note PECOC 'Hybrid DPM' Osprey armour cover.
Here’s a close up of that armour carrier, clearly showing the Hybrid DPM in bottle green, caramel and earth brown over tan:
The first pictures that I’m aware of of the British armed forces wearing their new camouflage design – the Multi-Terrain Pattern (MTP) – in Afghanistan.
Below is Lt Col Paul James, Commanding Officer of 40 Commando Royal Marines taking over the Sangin area of operations in Helmand province, from Lt Col Nick Kitson, CO, 3 Rifles.
MTP at FOB Jackson, Afghanistan
In the photo below, we can see that although helmet covers in the new pattern have already been issued, load-bearing vests, webbing and gloves have not. The figure in desert DPMs, helping to load the Chinook HC2 does not appear to be a member of the Royal Marines.
RM Commandos in new MTP uniforms load a transport helicopter at Camp Bastion, Helmand, Afghanistan.
Read the story behind the pictures on the excellent Helmand Blog.
I just discovered an online competition on the theme of Why Afghanistan Matters. The Allied Joint Forces Command HQ Brunssum (which provides oversight to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan) has been looking for original photos of the country, its people, and those who are fighting to free them from Taliban tyranny.
The competition has just closed, so too bad if you wanted to enter, but have a look at, and vote for, some of the stunning entries already uploaded in the four categories of People of Afghanistan, Beautiful Afghanistan, ANSF in Action (Afghan National Security Forces) and ISAF in Action.
Before this, between June and November last year, JFCB hosted a video contest on YouTube. The assignment was to create a short video on the same theme of “Why Afghanistan Matters.” View the winners here.
Voting ends April 30.
(Image via Why Afghanistan Matters)
It appears that German military clothing and equipment manufacturers Tacgear have a new flecktarn colourway up their sleeve. The company made a splash a couple of years ago with their snow camouflage, based on the the drawings or printing screens used for the Danish army 3 colour woodland camouflage (‘M84′). Now they have quietly announced
a new “flecktarn” camouflage pattern which was developed for the today’s mission scenarios of the armed forces
Only one picture on their site, and that’s a small one, but it looks like they’ve used a Multicam-like palette (a colour scheme that’s bound to increase in popularity now that both the US and British armies have adopted it for their Afghan adventures). Maybe there will be more evidence at this year’s IWA and outdoor classics show in 2 weeks time.
