SIG MMG 338 Program Series

Army Preparing to Produce Baseline Camo Gear for Testing

Natick has released a Special Notice making known their intent to “negotiate on a sole source basis with Beyond Clothing, LLC” to produce 310 sets of “AOR 1/2 Fabric (50/50 Nyco), Helmet Covers, Pants and Blouses. These uniforms are among the baseline uniforms required for camouflage testing and evaluation.”

Army-style uniforms and OCIE do not exist in the AOR 1 & 2 patterns. What’s more, the patterns are restricted, so any gear must be manufactured by a company already certified to handle the fabric. OCP, or as it is commercially known, MultiCam is the other baseline pattern for the upcoming field trial phase of the US Army Camouflage Improvement Effort. Due to its use in Afghanistan, there is already an ample supply of the equipment available.

One interesting note. Currently, OCP is only issued as the FR ACU and not the standard FR ACU. While much work has been done to color match dyed TenCate’s Defender-M fabric used to manufacture the FR ACU, the pattern may look differently than it would when printed on 50/50 NYCO. This is a variance that will have to be considered in performance unless the Army also pursues the acquisition of an adequate number of OCP NYCO test uniforms. If they are commercially sourced, further care will need to be taken that such uniforms are not in the so-called MultiCam VS print which does not provide NIR protection.

These ‘baseline’ Government issue patterns will be pitted against four commercial families of patterns to determine the best performer and possible new Army issue camouflage.

The commercial finalists are:
ADS Inc as Prime, partnered with Guy Cramer
Brookwood Companies
Crye Precision
Kryptek

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23 Responses to “Army Preparing to Produce Baseline Camo Gear for Testing”

  1. kenny c says:

    i think they should go with CRYE and use multicam. soldiers like it. its available. it works in almost all places. it even looks decent in snow. my own experience with it proved to me that there are very few places it doesnt blend. my personal opinion is they should use multicam with coyote or multicam gear. multicam might be THE BEST for every environment but it works pretty darn good in most places and i think thats what counts. just my two cents.

    • Greg says:

      I’d like to see woodland, desert and snow Multicam… if they have it or developing it, ADS and Guy Cramer has shown something good, now were just waiting to see if Natick has something good to bring to the table.

  2. Darius137 says:

    Hopefully they use their full abilities to test from this point forward instead of letting things get bought out by crye and/or just simple picture in picture tests.

  3. Matt D says:

    I agree that we should just use multicam- but more importantly they should make a more durable uniform. No more Velcro… PLEASE. Personally I could live with the ACU pattern if it was just more durable. By the time you’re in country long enough for your ACUs to be dirty enough to start blending into the environment you have a hole in your crotch and ripped elbows. The ACU is a joke, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was made in China.

  4. Matt D says:

    *UCP camo pattern, not ACU pattern sorry.

    to clarify, I could live with the camo, not the durability of the ACU.

  5. Greg says:

    Lets hope the fabric holds stronger than the ACUs current fabric.

  6. Marmatt says:

    The contract award dollar amounts are significantly different between vendors. $80k for Brookwood, $600k for Crye and ADS, and $6.4 MILLION for Kryptek.

    Why the huge discrepancy? Does each vendor set the price in their submission? Does each bid include the same things? Did they just transpose a decimal point on the Kryptek submission?

    Are these dumb questions because I have no idea how government procurement works?

  7. CAVstrong says:

    Not surprising that natick is going with the AOR patterns. I wonder will they be using the vertically or horizontally oriented patterns and what are the Marnies gonna say about it. Also what will the transitional and equipment patterns be?

    • SSD says:

      These are the BASELINE patterns. I explained it in the article and I’ve gone over this several times. The Army will collect data on the candidate patterns as well as USGI patterns. This way they can adequately measure whether or not the new patterns are actually an improvement over what is currently available to the military.

      The Marine Corps does not issue AOR. It uses MARPAT. AOR is based on the same geometry as MARPAT (and UCP) but relies on different colorways. It is used by the US Navy.

      • CAVstrong says:

        I’m sorry I think I misunderstood the article.

        To be clear the AOR paterns are being used as control patterns agaisnt which all the other patterns will be compared and they are not the govnerment’s pattern submission?
        (I thought there were four commercial Finalist and one government finalist?)

        Also I realize that MARPAT and AOR has drastically differnt color schemes and that the Marines have no control over AOR. But correct me if I am wrong (which is very possible) but I thought the Marines got all butt hurt when the Navy adopted AOR and tried to stop them from using it. Arguing that the Marines need to look unique and distinct?

        • SSD says:

          This is not the Govt pattern. We haven’t seen it yet.

          That the Marine Corps got upset over the Navy’s use of AOR 1 is a sea story.

          • Jeff says:

            Is there any indication if the gov’t will be using a “new” camo pattern or possibly updating a previous pattern (for example the Deser All Over Brush)?

  8. Matt says:

    CAVstrong, AOR is not the same as MARPAT other than the digital design/blocks.

  9. James says:

    Ah yes, the self serving ice cream cone more commonly known as NATICK. I will be surprised if anything is chosen over the AOR patterns NATICK is pushing, after all they are the ones who gave us UCP and the ACUs.

  10. I see what you mean but... says:

    I smell a rat. We know what the commercial patterns are but we have no idea if Natick has submitted anything at all yet. They could be looking at the commercial winners and improving their pattern.