At the end of 2010, the U.S. Army announced plans to replace its
Army Combat Uniform (ACU) in the Universal Camouflage Pattern (UCP) with
another color combination. Although MultiCam®, also known as Operation
Enduring Freedom Camouflage Pattern (OCP), is presently used on ACUs in
Afghanistan, UCP, issued first, did not blend in well with the country's
terrain of mountains, woodland, and desert.
UCP was designed originally to blend in with all environments, from the desert to woodlands to urban areas, but has not always been effective. In 2009 Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Mark Ulsh wrote to Army Times: "The general consensus on the ACU pattern among many, many soldiers is that it is ineffective in breaking up a soldier's outline in just about every environment except in urban areas and the local gravel pit. As an aviator, I can tell you that from the air most other nations' camouflage masks a soldier better than the ACU does."
The absence of the color black in UCP has been another concern for soldiers. Because black is not naturally found in nature, the Army considered it to be disruptive, particularly in desert and urban areas. Uniform designers and soldiers in woodland areas, however, have argued that black is a necessary color for forest camouflage.
Three types of color combinations will be tested to find a replacement for UCP, a digital camouflage pattern. Woodland, desert, and transitional patterns are the planned test groups, and patterns MultiCam®, Woodland and Desert MARPAT, and AOR 1 and 2 will be included. With the exception of MultiCam®, a gradient-based pattern designed to blend into various environments, elevations, seasons, and light, MARPAT and AOR are digital camouflage patterns.
UCP was derived from MARPAT, which itself was based on Canadian Pattern Disruptive Material, or CADPAT. A standard Canadian Army pattern in 1997, CADPAT is said to have started the present digital camouflage trend. When tested, CADPAT was 30-percent more effective than solid olive drab in concealing soldiers. CADPAT, however, is a copyrighted pattern, and when the Marine Corps inquired about using it with the Canadian government, the Canadian government provided information and resources to the USMC regarding CADPAT.
Digital camouflage, unlike the three-color NATO or gradient MultiCam® pattern, is pixilated, created first on a computer and ten printed onto nylon. The combination of squares gives the camouflage pattern a dithered appearance, creating fewer solid lines and making a soldier less likely to be noticed.
CADPAT, however, is not the first instance of digital camouflage. Lieutenant Colonel Timothy R. O'Neill, a West Point professor of engineering psychology, developed Dual-Tex, the original digital camouflage pattern. O'Neill showed that Dual-Tex, when compared to the three-color NATO pattern, reduces detection by 50 percent. Dual-Tex was used by the U.S. Army 2nd Armored Calvary Regiment in Europe from 1978 to the early '80s, and the Australian Army experimented with it, but this early digital camouflage was soon replaced by the three-color NATO pattern.
A new camouflage pattern for the Army Combat Uniform is not expected until 2012, but if AOR or MARPAT is preferred on a universal level, an ACU in either digital camouflage may supersede MultiCam®. OCP is presently used on uniforms only in Afghanistan, but when tests on the effectiveness of multiple camouflage patterns in the country were performed in 2009, MARPAT came in second. Claiming that all camouflage patterns should be unique to each branch of the Military, the USMC, however, owns the rights to MARPAT and does not want their pattern duplicated.
UCP was designed originally to blend in with all environments, from the desert to woodlands to urban areas, but has not always been effective. In 2009 Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Mark Ulsh wrote to Army Times: "The general consensus on the ACU pattern among many, many soldiers is that it is ineffective in breaking up a soldier's outline in just about every environment except in urban areas and the local gravel pit. As an aviator, I can tell you that from the air most other nations' camouflage masks a soldier better than the ACU does."
The absence of the color black in UCP has been another concern for soldiers. Because black is not naturally found in nature, the Army considered it to be disruptive, particularly in desert and urban areas. Uniform designers and soldiers in woodland areas, however, have argued that black is a necessary color for forest camouflage.
Three types of color combinations will be tested to find a replacement for UCP, a digital camouflage pattern. Woodland, desert, and transitional patterns are the planned test groups, and patterns MultiCam®, Woodland and Desert MARPAT, and AOR 1 and 2 will be included. With the exception of MultiCam®, a gradient-based pattern designed to blend into various environments, elevations, seasons, and light, MARPAT and AOR are digital camouflage patterns.
UCP was derived from MARPAT, which itself was based on Canadian Pattern Disruptive Material, or CADPAT. A standard Canadian Army pattern in 1997, CADPAT is said to have started the present digital camouflage trend. When tested, CADPAT was 30-percent more effective than solid olive drab in concealing soldiers. CADPAT, however, is a copyrighted pattern, and when the Marine Corps inquired about using it with the Canadian government, the Canadian government provided information and resources to the USMC regarding CADPAT.
Digital camouflage, unlike the three-color NATO or gradient MultiCam® pattern, is pixilated, created first on a computer and ten printed onto nylon. The combination of squares gives the camouflage pattern a dithered appearance, creating fewer solid lines and making a soldier less likely to be noticed.
CADPAT, however, is not the first instance of digital camouflage. Lieutenant Colonel Timothy R. O'Neill, a West Point professor of engineering psychology, developed Dual-Tex, the original digital camouflage pattern. O'Neill showed that Dual-Tex, when compared to the three-color NATO pattern, reduces detection by 50 percent. Dual-Tex was used by the U.S. Army 2nd Armored Calvary Regiment in Europe from 1978 to the early '80s, and the Australian Army experimented with it, but this early digital camouflage was soon replaced by the three-color NATO pattern.
A new camouflage pattern for the Army Combat Uniform is not expected until 2012, but if AOR or MARPAT is preferred on a universal level, an ACU in either digital camouflage may supersede MultiCam®. OCP is presently used on uniforms only in Afghanistan, but when tests on the effectiveness of multiple camouflage patterns in the country were performed in 2009, MARPAT came in second. Claiming that all camouflage patterns should be unique to each branch of the Military, the USMC, however, owns the rights to MARPAT and does not want their pattern duplicated.
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