Bye bye UCP - US Army adopts Multicam

[echo1 0]

Faceplam.

MC is only a temporary issue for soldiers going to Afghanistan. UCP isn't going away anytime soon. The Government has way to much invested into the ACU and it would cost the US Taxpayers a fortune to get out of the current ACU/UCP contracts and to license the MC. Not to mention it would be a waste.

I personally dislike (not hate UCP/ACU), but I hate MC even more. I do believe the Army needs to change the colors, but not the cheap cop-out of the UCP-D.

As far as I know, some senators threw their weight in behind it, claimed that it was putting men's lives in danger and so on. Given that these are ultimately the people who sign the cheques, and their track record on pulling the plug on projects which have had billions sank into them, I really wouldn't put it beyond them to kill UCP on a whim.

I hope I didn't give the impression that I'm some sort of airsoft kiddie - my interest was moreso in raising awareness for people working on US-related mods.

[Binkowski 26]

I hope I didn't give the impression that I'm some sort of airsoft kiddie - my interest was moreso in raising awareness for people working on US-related mods.

Understandable on the mod thing. Btw, I don't see you as an "airsoft kiddie" just remember that many people who are like "OHAIS YOU CAN HAZ MULTICAM PLOX?!" are. But nah, you're cool.

[Dead3yez 0]

Expenditure on changing camouflage would be minute compared to other expenses. I don't see how money would be a problem, besides I thought everyone was already pulling it out of their asses. Could the money otherwise be spent better on other things - probably.

[dm 9]

Standard government procedure i thought.

Who needs important things like body armour, reliable weapons and vehicles which dont roll/burn/explode when you look at them when you can swap out the uniform on a regular basis.

[da12thMonkey 1943]

Do the US Army send blokes out to theatre in the kit they've been wearing all year in the states then?

In the UK we issue new uniforms and body armour to blokes as they head out. What uniforms survive the tour are meant to be handed in to the QM and destroyed because they're unfit to be issued to someone else after 6 months in a hot and sandy place.

So long as the US does the same the cost of having an Afghanistan specific uniform in addition to the native UCP patterned ones, should be minimal. You just run off the new uniforms you were going to issue for the tour in multicam instead.

AFAIK, British MTP will pretty much exist as a theatre-issue uniform for a couple of years until PECOC is finalised and the pattern can get rolled out across the whole of the armed forces (regular forces at least). Blokes are supposedly back in DPM when they return from Herrick until this happens.

[Clavicula_nox4817 0]

Standard government procedure i thought.

Who needs important things like body armour, reliable weapons and vehicles which dont roll/burn/explode when you look at them when you can swap out the uniform on a regular basis.

Well, everyone has body armor so what's your point? The weapons are reliable if they're properly maintained. Afghanistan is primarily fought on foot, so why the emphasis on vehicles?

Besides, our light infantry shouldn't be wearing armor. The loss of mobility is too dramatic for this type of fighting.

[Buzz_Fledderjohn 0]

So it may be "official", but tbh I don't see the US Army switching to a different pattern for at least three more years. Gear / weapons usually take years to be replaced. But I'm far from the end-all expert, so who knows.

Anyway, I do agree that Multicam has "airsoft" written all over it but I also think it's quite an effective pattern. Not great, but pretty good.

As for UCP, I don't see why they don't just adjust the colours. The pattern itself is great, but the colours are way off. I think it works pretty well in urban areas and rocky terrain, but that's about it. The biggest problem with UCP is the philosophy behind it. There is no such thing as a "universal" camouflage pattern that works in EVERY theater of war, although some patterns do come very close to being multi-terrain (see example below). If they'd just adjust the colours, it would be a whole lot better. I think UCP-Delta was decent actually, but the blue is still in there. What they need to do though is go back to the old seperate uniforms for desert / woodland environments philosophy. Works a wholte lot better than just one pattern for both woodland and desert.

In my opinion, "Mirage" from Bulldog Equipment is one of the better patterns currently out there:

It works pretty well in woodland, too:

http://strikehold.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/mirage-camo-up-close-and-in-the-field/

A couple more Mirage links with pics:

http://www.itstactical.com/2009/12/16/camouflage-comparison-results/

http://strikehold.wordpress.com/2009/08/03/mirage-camo-uniforms-from-bulldog-equipment/

http://strikehold.wordpress.com/2009/08/07/more-photos-of-mirage-camo-gear-and-uniforms/

http://strikehold.wordpress.com/2009/12/17/us-army-camo-testing-in-afghanistan/

Looks like it was also tested by the US Army. Why they didn't choose it is beyond me, it would have been the best choice imo.

[echo1 0]

It's very easy for a manufacturer to take pics that shows their camo in a perfect backdrop. What's far more pertinent is not how good it is in ideal environments, but rather how it holds up overall in all environments both ideal and unideal.

There was a good video on the BBC website where they interviewed a British colonel about the MTP adoption. He said of MTP - "It's not going to be the best camouflage for every situation, but rather it's designed so that it's never the wrong camouflage for any situation."

[STALKERGB 6]

It's very easy for a manufacturer to take pics that shows their camo in a perfect backdrop. What's far more pertinent is not how good it is in ideal environments, but rather how it holds up overall in all environments both ideal and unideal.

There was a good video on the BBC website where they interviewed a British colonel about the MTP adoption. He said of MTP - "It's not going to be the best camouflage for every situation, but rather it's designed so that it's never the wrong camouflage for any situation."

Exactly, the key was to never end up in a situation where your camouflage became a danger due to the environment you were in. Rather than as was said trying to make a perfect pattern for super duper concealment.

[Aeneas2020 10]

MTP has to be better than what these poor buggers had to do anyway:

http://strikehold.wordpress.com/2009/08/10/afghan-camo-the-british-controversy/

anyway it will be interesting to see how far the US army takes this.

[AnimalMother92 10]

Eh, I like Flecktarn :rolleyes:

I do hope that BIS includes some MC in OA (enough acronyms).

[Aeneas2020 10]

you are right...flecktarn just looks right. I dunno what it is about it.

[Buzz_Fledderjohn 0]

I do hope that BIS includes some MC in OA (enough acronyms).

Yeah, now that the US Army has been testing Multicam I think it should be added to some of the units in Arrowhead. If OA will have SF units, I think they should wear it, or at least some of them. :)

[Clavicula_nox4817 0]

The guy in that picture is an Air Force Combat Controller not Special Forces.

[TimRiceSE 10]

i dont think he claimed it was. He was talking about theoretical SF in OA. The pic was just to illustrate Multicam..

[ICE-Raver 10]

I love multicam. Use it in airsoft matches all the time. It is by far better than anything else I have seen in the fields where I play. (Southern US woodland)

PS: All the jabs at airsoft in this thread are silly. Just because airsofters use it doesn't mean it isn't good. We "airsoft kiddies" (I am in my 30's btw) wear every kind of camo known to man. Even Period stuff from WWI II etc. Does that make all the other camo lame?

Edited March 1, 2010 by ICE-Raver

[Buzz_Fledderjohn 0]

i dont think he claimed it was. He was talking about theoretical SF in OA. The pic was just to illustrate Multicam..

Correct.

[Clavicula_nox4817 0]

Correct.

My mistake, then.