Universal Camouflage Pattern (UCP) apparently not so universal.

Foosinho · Sep 26, 2009

After much complaining from soldiers in Afghanistan that UCP uniforms weren't getting the job done, Congress has ordered the Army to upgrade.

Multicam has been in testing, and reportedly has been fielded in a limited number of cases for field testing.

But the new pattern - at least it'll be the one in widespread testing in the field - is "UCP-Delta". It's essentially UCP with a large amount of brown added, which looks like it'll make a huge difference.

I saw a chart - can't find it again - that showed UCP was outperformed in "all" environments (desert, urban, and woodland) by quite a few other patterns. Hopefully UCP-D will do a little better.

JBigjake · Sep 27, 2009

Who's down with UCP?

Why must it be "one design fits all"?

Foosinho · Sep 27, 2009

Re: Who's down with UCP?

JBigjake said: ↑

Why must it be "one design fits all"?
Click to expand...

Do you remember what happened in both of the Gulf Wars?

The Army is trying to settle on a "universal" pattern as the base camouflage so that they can put troops into any environment at the drop of the hat with their issued gear and get "adequate" performance. I think they need to be a little more realistic, and realize that they will still need specialized patterns for different environments. But the basic idea of a pattern that works reasonably well in a wide variety of environments is a good one.

spejic · Sep 27, 2009

The problem was that UCP didn't undergo a proper selection process. It wasn't compared to other camo schemes, either. What happened what that they tested a bunch of different patterns for a few years, and at the end of the trial they created UCP from elements of the other patterns without then testing UCP.

Here's an article on the subject:
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/09/army_camo_test_091509w/

It looks like one option is to have new uniforms just for those going out into the field (either a new universal version or environment-specific patterns), and all equipment (like vests) being done in sold coyote brown (the universal color of choice for airsoft players for years now).

No matter what they chose, it's going to cost billions to re-equip.

JBigjake · Sep 27, 2009

Who's down with UCP?

Foosinho said: ↑

Do you remember what happened in both of the Gulf Wars?
Click to expand...

"Friend or foe" is always going to be an issue in the fog of war. If our soldiers are all issued the same camo, won't an enemy know this in advance & be able to duplicate it for false-flag operations?

Foosinho said: ↑

The Army is trying to settle on a "universal" pattern as the base camouflage so that they can put troops into any environment at the drop of the hat with their issued gear and get "adequate" performance. I think they need to be a little more realistic, and realize that they will still need specialized patterns for different environments. But the basic idea of a pattern that works reasonably well in a wide variety of environments is a good one.
Click to expand...

While that's a consideration, I can't see camo being the big logistical issue in preparedness or rapid deployment. I would think that IEDs & inadequate vehicle armoring are the cause of substantially more US military deaths in Iraq & Afghanistan than camo failure.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Improvised_explosive_device#Iraq
"According to the Washington Post, 63% of U.S deaths in Iraq occurred due to IEDs"
http://www.militarytimes.com/news/2009/07/army_IED_brief_071609w/

Foosinho · Sep 27, 2009

spejic said: ↑

It looks like one option is to have new uniforms just for those going out into the field (either a new universal version or environment-specific patterns), and all equipment (like vests) being done in sold coyote brown (the universal color of choice for airsoft players for years now).
Click to expand...

Well, I don't really need camo, but all of my 3-gun gear is in coyote (except for 2 pouches in ACU because I needed 'em now and the shop didn't have any in coyote).

There are very few environments where "brown" is a bad color - which is why it's being added to UCP-D. Boreal Canadian forests, maybe. Which is probably why CADPAT is virtually 100% green.

DoyleG · Oct 6, 2009

Foosinho said: ↑

There are very few environments where "brown" is a bad color - which is why it's being added to UCP-D. Boreal Canadian forests, maybe. Which is probably why CADPAT is virtually 100% green.
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To dark of a green and still too much black in it as well.