According to PEO Soldier spokesperson Ms Debra Dawson, the current planned award date for 15 December 2011, a full three months after the initially planned date of 15 September. The latest word on the street is that the Army will most likely down select to four commercial and one Government families of patterns rather than the three and two originally planned.
After the camo industry day we published a comprehensive explanation of the Army’s plan and methodology. If you are unfamiliar with the plan we suggest you review that article. Naturally, the original, aggressive timeline has slipped significantly.
We will continue to update you as we receive additional information. Thanks to PEO Soldier for their assistance.
So, when we could solve the problem with Multicam and issue over whites Arctic conditions and cover 99.9 percent of the terrain on earth while single handedly saving money, our leadership see it fit to go with a completely new camouflage, possibly developed on the .mil’s dime (money), which require’s massive fielding efforts upon deployment (money/time), AND will change the outer cover and pouch color for Armor and MOLLE system components (more money and time).
Awesome, typical Army logic… throw money at the problem.
Exactly Matt. It would make too much sense to just go ahead with Multicam (that they already use in A-stan) which already has a large market in uniforms, gear and patches. Can’t say this is surprising, for the same Army that elected a grey-green pattern that blends in with no known environment on Earth. If I’d thought the Marines made a mistake by adopting the separate woodland and desert digital uniforms (over Multicam) the Army made a cosmic foul up with ACU. Why should we expect that they NOW pull their heads out of their a$$e$ and do something right?
If you haven’t already realised, Multicam doesn’t actually work very well in lush tropical environments or jungles.
OK, so we issue Multicam for eighty percent of environments and bring back the pre-Woodland ERDL for forests and jungle use. Besides, the old cotton ERDLs would starch up like plywood which looked great with spit-shined jungle boots. Never mind, then we’d need polishable boots again. I’m showing my age.
But issue the jungle cammies like the snow overwhites, as OCIE.
My 2 cents:
Replacing UCP (“universal” camouflage) with another multi-terrain pattern merely ignores the greater overarching issue. There has never been a one-pattern solution, and there won’t be anytime soon. Camouflage is not a problem that is answerable with one solution.
Camouflage is area specific as the article from earlier today outlines, if you want to truly blend in with your operational environment you will have to make MODS to your gear once on the ground. but what MultiCam does is give you a sold base for 80% of the environments we fight in today. could there be a pattern that blends better with a certain area? Yes. but for a good uniform that we can use in our current conflicts and also in future engagements along with looking like a real uniform that doesn’t blend in with your grandmothers couch. I think MultiCam is the way to go it is tried and tested in combat and works in addition to the fact that is all ready part of the Army’s inventory. So why not use what we have instead of breaking the bank to come up with another hair brain idea like the ACU pattern.
The problem with all of the current camouflage used by the military, is that it does not work from 50 meters out or more. There is an entirely new generation of product that works at distance as well as up close and there is no comparison to what is fielded currently.
I think the dealy is because the mil was waiting for A-TACS FG to be released commerically so they could include it in the tests, as one of the commercial patts.
@johnny b – no, according to a link in the article testing was completed awhile ago. They aren’t adding any new patterns, in fact, I think A-TACS said on some website that they had developed a whole new camo pattern for the Army.
This whole thing is a mess! The Army made an error in judgement when they chose UCP ( which isn’t all bad). Now they are working to fix that mistake. The good thing about UCP is that it allowed the US Army and other branches to get a clear picture of how important camo patterns are and what the solution is. Is the competition costing a lot of money? Yes. Is it a waste of money? No, because in the end, soldiers will have the uniform pattern they need for the environment they are operating in.
Multicam is great. But Multicam is only one pattern. The UCP issue showed us that one pattern doesn’t work for everything.
My old self is still saying “to hell with all this crap foreign countries still produce our old cammies lets just buy them and pass them out again no truss on fuss about it” But i still hold to my new found attitude i said it before and i’ll say it again, I wish the Army nothing but good luck on their quest and just keep on praying they take the Marine Corps lesson on two or three patts And not the one size and hope it fits all method idea. PS i am still pleased by the progress they are making.
Why can’t the Army use MARPAT? The SECDEF can overrule the Marines. With minor changes it’d save much money.
Yes mulitcam and other commercial patterns are cool, but re-doing all of the gear, from pounces to rucksacks, will be a royal pain.
BDU’s and DCU’s are old and busted. Big Army was envious of MARPAT. So to be “original”, they picked the cammo pattern that was DEAD LAST in the tests.
No more starch (makes you glow like magic under NODS), no more shiny boots (I likes my free time). Just go with a proven pattern and be done with it. Don’t care if mulitcam/A-TACS/[insert tacicool pattern here] is “better”. The taxpayers paid for MARPAT and we should use it.
I honestly feel hat this entire program is a rope-a-dope. Since the Army was pretty much TOLD by congress to adopt multicam, It didnt keep with the governments open source plan, if thats what youd call it. (Where they have to leave it open to have multiple companies make bids with their products) Since there really wasnt any of that from the get go, this is the .Gov way of CYA and in the end say, “yup multicam is the best, we were right to adopt it when congress told us to.”
Honestly no one ive seen or heard from has said anything about the jungle and desert variants CRYE developed for the army. Id really like to see these, and it would meet the Armys needs. Use regular OCP for the TA-50 and all terrain pattern, then throw in the jungle and Desert for theater specific.
I live in a tropical environment and I think multicam works suprisingly well in the jungle. No it does not blend with the bright green giant leaves which provide plenty of concealment, but underneath that is layer of detritus consisting of dead and dying vegitation THAT is what multicam blends with. Foliage grey UCP looks like a target anywhere except prone on a gravel road, and even then…
Chockblock: I don’t think any SECDEF in their right mind with all that he makes and everything else they pretty much enjoy watching the Grunts and Jarheads fight and stare eachother down especialy over camo. Yes starch sucks and screws up the camo but thats why you where issued 2 sets of Woodland and 2 Deserts so you wore one pair for standing in line to recive your awards and to look nice for the guy presenting them to you So i herd, while the others are washed and worn regularly for the battlefield And yeah the BDs and DCs were rather old but not busted but many of us think that ditching them was a good start But led to this problem that we see now it was simple not any of the 5 branche’s need or deserve thier own camo for the same reason you and i said “different patterns waste money.” plus there are non-shine black boots that you can clean in the same manner as those old bland and already outdated schwarzkopf baghdad beige boots XD I am 100% infavor for a whole new more effective camo’s like are old unis but im also starting to feel the itch for bringing back the ass kicking black boots “Real boots to the enemies asses YEAH”.
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