#Ucp camouflage full#
Whenever the military considers its camouflage options, the question the public often asks is, given the media is full of futuristic solutions like invisibility cloaks and chameleon clothing, why is the military still using old-fashioned printed cloth? The NDAA states that the Army can "use existing uniforms and patterns and use the patterns of sister services". Everybody’s very sensitive about this, especially now because there may be some changes coming up."Īll this is set against a background of cost-cutting and the requirement to comply with the 2014 Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to field camouflage uniforms common to all members of the armed forces. Yet another organisation is responsible for making the decision, based on the input of the other two. We’re responsible for the research and development, another Army organisation is responsible for the testing and evaluation, and then the actual acquisition and fielding of it. Camo challengesīig military purchasing decisions, especially those that could affect a soldier’s chance of being detected and targeted, are always going to be a hotbed of politics piled up uncomfortably against scientific research and testing, not least because of the number of organisations necessarily involved.ĭavid Accetta, public affairs officer at the US Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center, says: "There are different agencies that are responsible for different parts of it. The US Army is not currently in a position to confirm the situation. Sources say that other contenders still in the running include Marine Corps’ desert and woodland patterns, and officials are considering creating and testing a digitised pattern based on the colours of MultiCam pattern. Crye issued a statement in reply stating that this figure was misrepresentative, adding that it had agreed to reduce its fees and offered a deal within 1% of the cost of UCP. In May 2013, Crye’s MultiCam emerged as the top contender for the general use pattern, but by May 2014 talks with the Army were reported to have broken down over the $24.8m royalty fee Crye was demanding. We have testimonials from soldiers in theatre close enough to the enemy to hear them saying they can’t see the American. He recently told Army Times: "The bottom line is the enemy can’t kill, hurt or injure who they can’t see. Mortlock, project manager for Soldier Protection and Individual Equipment, says the criteria for testing the patterns are "detection and blending".
Having learned lessons from UCP in Afghanistan, one likely solution is that the Army will select a universal pattern for general use while offering commanders backdrop-specific designs for different theatres.Ĭol. The Army reports that, to date, the tests have revealed that the pattern itself only seems to be important at distances of up to 50m after this the colours become the main factor.
Designs for specific environments are compared to more generic designs, and soldiers trained as spotters will try to pick out colleagues wearing uniforms made from the printed fabrics against different backgrounds, at various distances and in different lighting conditions. To ensure there is no repeat of the UCP fiasco, the Army is currently subjecting candidates to the biggest uniform camouflage test in history, involving thousands of soldiers at Fort Benning in Georgia, Fort Polk, Louisiana and Yuma Testing Ground in Arizona. "Eleven years and a $5bn investment in UCP later, the US Army is back at the drawing board."
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