Ask your Sergeant Major, he knows should know. In several commands the CSM has already informed senior NCOs of the Army’s decision.
Archive for the ‘Camo’ Category
Want To Know Which Camouflage Pattern The US Army Picked?
Friday, May 16th, 2014Is The Cat Out Of The Camo Bag?
Thursday, May 15th, 2014Attendees at today’s change of responsibility ceremony for PEO Soldier’s APM for Clothing and Individual Equipment under PM SPIE from LTC Wallace to the incoming LTC Bryan, claim that an announcement was made regarding the Army’s path forward for camouflage.
This is moving fast and we know some in industry are already receiving notification of the change. In fact, the mills already have fabric orders. Go Army!
Lest we forget, congrats to LTC Bryan.
We’ll keep you posted.
Marker Panel, Individual, LW Mk1 Now Available In PenCott Patterns
Thursday, May 8th, 2014
Battle System LLC has added PenCott BadLands and GreenZone as pattern options for the Marker Panel, Individual, LW Mk1. I am a huge fan of the MPILW and I think it should be standard issue for everyone. It’s lightweight, durable and effective, transforming from a compact 2.5″ x 2.5″ x .75″ to a full 17″ x 17″ reversible to orange for signaling.
battlesystemsllc.com/Marker_Panel,_Individual,_LW
Hat Tip: www.hydedefinition.com/latest/?p=1253
And The Next US Army Camouflage Is…
Thursday, May 8th, 2014If you find yourself this far into any over-schedule undertaking such as replacing the camouflage for the US Army, you will constantly hear rumors of anticipated announcement dates and speculative pattern types. Why, just a week or so ago I was told that the Army was going to make a camouflage decision on May 5th.
At this point I’m jaded, so I flippantly shrugged the information off. After all, hadn’t the Army just started their reexamination of the entire camouflage process a mere two months ago? And hadn’t Phase IV taken two years? Two months vs two years. It just didn’t add up. Not to mention rumored announcement dates that kept shifting to the right. Plus, May 5th? Seriously? Cinco de Mayo? What an arbitrary date, especially with the U.S. Army’s birthday coming up in June.
Then, I get a cryptic email yesterday morning. During a briefing to industry, the Commander of the Defense Logistics Agency, VADM Harnitchek announced that the Army had in fact made a camouflage decision but unfortunately, he did not know which pattern had been selected. Even if he had, as a Navy Admiral. it wasn’t his place to tell the Army’s story. The meeting was a buzz with speculation.
At this point I was thinking, “Finally, a decision…any decision.”
Who knows if the choice was actually made on Cinco de Mayo or not, but wouldn’t it be ironic if it had been? Think about it. A decision of that importance would’ve been much easier to make over a couple of shots of tequila.
But I’ve gone on long enough leading you up to the punch line of this post.
Today, Col Robert Mortlock, Program Manager for Soldier Protection and Individual Equipment at PEO Soldier showed up to discuss Army programs. He’s just finished addressing a large ballroom filled with representatives from the military services and the industrial base that serves them. Everyone came into the room waiting to hear, right from the proverbial horse’s mouth, which Course Of Action the Army is going to take. Would it press the ‘easy button’ and choose OCP (MultiCam)? Or maybe MARPAT? Or Navy AOR? Or perhaps the Army would defy the NDAA and introduce the fabled Digital Transitional Pattern (pixelated MultiCam)? Would they be bold and go old school, announcing they had reconsidered a 2003 decision and adopt Scorpion? Or would the Senior Service just stick with status quo and remain in the dreaded UCP for garrison wear and OCP for the remainder of OEF?
Lots of options on the table.
Slovenian Land Forces SloCam Camouflage Pattern
Friday, May 2nd, 2014
While writing up the article for the newly released STRIKER XT line from UF PRO, we came across mention of a camouflage pattern called SloCam. A bit of research revealed a post on UF PRO’s own site, detailing the history of the pattern.
SloCam was developed by the Slovenian Land Forces, along side their new battle dress, as a more adequate camouflage pattern when compared to their original Woodland DP. Designed to better reflect the changed strategic role of the Slovenian army as a NATO partner, SloCam’s characteristic shapes, color transition from light to dark olive green, and five color shades based on brown and green function well in various vegetations from woodland to barren areas – even midsized urban areas, maintains its disrupted pattern even at a distance, and also allows soldiers to combine it with equipment from other NATO countries.
If it’s not painfully obvious, it would be hard to argue that SloCam isn’t inspired by Crye Precision’s flagship MultiCam camouflage pattern, in both color composition and function. It looks like everybody wants camouflage that works (except the U.S. Army).
ATS Tactical Gear – Cobra 2.5 In Kryptek
Wednesday, April 16th, 2014
ATS Tactical Gear made up a couple prototypes of their Cobra 2.5 pack in Kryptek Typhon and Highlander for a customer, and have plans to produce and make them commercially available. The Kryptek Cobra 2.5s feature the same Brushed DriLex lining and compatibility with the CAP series organizational pouches as previous models. ATS will also be adding Kryptek patterns to the color matrix on their site in the coming weeks.
Additionally, the long awaited Cobra II is now in the beginning stages of development. Stay tuned for further information as it becomes available.
HyperStealth to Introduce INVISIB – Commercial Variant of Quantum Stealth
Friday, April 11th, 2014HyperStealth announced on their Facebook page earlier today that they would release a commercial version of their long promised Quantum Stealth. I for one am looking forward to the release simply so I can finally speak openly about the technology.
With authorization from the U.S. Military last week, Hyperstealth INVISIB will be the first commercial variant of Quantum Stealth (Light Bending Material). A confidential version with a higher capability will be available for Law Enforcement/Military Regular Forces and a highly advanced classified version will be available for Tier 1 and Tier 2 Special Forces Teams in Canada and the U.S. only.
Hyperstealth is now in the process of establishing the Intellectual Property (IP) for INVISIB, and only after the IP is secured will the product be demonstrated to the public.
Hyperstealth was not allowed to pursue the IP prior to this recent authorization as Canada does not allow patents to be taken out on classified technology and while the U.S. does allow patents on classified technology, it would have to be stamped secret and would not allow Hyperstealth to secure worldwide protection.
Blast from the Past – Battlefield Airmen on the Job
Thursday, April 3rd, 2014Why? Because I just like this post from March, 2011 is why.
We like seeing official Air Force photos of Battlefield Airmen applying airmanship to the tasks at hand. In this case we see U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Stacy Maxey, a command air mobility liaison officer with Task Force CROM, giving a landing zone safety officer course U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, and Romanian army personnel at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Lagman, Afghanistan.
You will note the combination of AF Digital Tigerstripe, Army UCP and Army OCP (MultiCam) clothing and equipment on the Airmen in the photo. Expect this to be the norm for at least the near future as deploying Airmen transition to OCP.
