User:SergeantSelfExplanatory/sandbox

Final variant of Desert Brush in 2004

The U.S. Army universal camouflage trials took place from 2002 to 2004 with the goal of creating a single pattern that would provide adequate camouflage in universal environments. for the simultaneously-developing Future Force Warrior program, later universal environment pattern. Four different patterns in four environment variations were tested during the evaluation: three Woodland patterns, three Desert, three Urban, three Desert-Urban, and one special Transitional/Multi-Environment pattern. Testing occurred in four different phases between August 2002 and March 2004 at Ft. Benning, Ft. Irwin, Ft. Lewis, Ft. Polk and the Yakima Training Center. A total of 15 evaluations took place.

would provide adequate concealment in all environments surfacing midway through

Notable for being the first camouflage pattern development trials to use inkjet printers for limited test runs of fabric to turn into uniforms.

Inadvertently it led to the most controversy of any US Army uniform development program when, after the trials had concluded with Desert Brush as its top contender, UCP was then put in above its place. Then it went down the defense contracting line issued until soldiers started complaining. After trials in 2010, It has since been replaced by, then on the interim, OEF-CP, and now in present day, the OCP.

Background

With the goal of developing, at first, improved environment-specific camouflage patterns for at least Woodland and Desert for sure, if not Urban as well. Then later a universal camouflage pattern for all environments.

At the time, the US Army had some options for soldier camouflage. Then-standing capabilities were, for Woodland terrain, the US Woodlands pattern, for Desert terrain, the Tricolor Desert pattern, for Snowy terrain, Overwhites, and for Urban terrain, none officially.

(COMPARE techniques of problem finding, camo testing, and manufacturing)

Woodland aka Verdant camouflage environments

In use since 1981, US Woodlands was the first ever standard US Army pattern in addition to being issued to all in the entire US military.

Development

The colors and pattern shapes of which date back to 1948 where A. H. Humphreys and John H. Hopkins, among others at the Engineer Research and Development Laboratories (ERDL), created the ERDL camouflage pattern.

1962 test

During 1962-65 at Ft. Benning, Georgia. Held by the Infantry Board, the Engineer Research and Development Laboratories (ERDL) and the Quartermaster Research and Development Command (QRDC).

lacksidasical testing against the same bacground

MASSTER tests

During 1973 and 1975, MASSTER Test Phase I (1973) and Phase II (1975) respectively were held at Ft. Bliss, Texas. Conducted by NARADCOM, MERADCOM, and also recently assembled Modern Army Selected Systems Test, Evaluation, and Review (MASSTER).

"An evaluation, ... during MASSTER (Phase I) ..., indicated the camouflage posture of participating Army units required considerable improvement."

Expansion series standard 1.0x, 1.3x, 1.6x, and 2.0x.

Verdant terrains.

Where camouflage testing techniques were heavily improved upon.

Under development were personal camouflage items such as facepaint, gloves, and boot concealment.

Experimental Dual-Tex

Initially tested prior to April 1977, Dual-Texture Gradient (DTG) camouflage, or Dual-Tex for short, was purely as a vehicle camouflage replacement for MERDC aka NATO camouflage, it saw use in color slide series trials. MERDC camo was developed by blah blah patent technique for camo making MERADCOM linked on reddit thread how was woodlands designed #asset-dump. The test was conducted from August 1976 - February 1977 at West Point, New York, by selected members of the Psychology and Leadership Committees, Office of Military Leadership, United States Military Academy. The research is still in progress at this time.

Photographs of Stewart Army Subpost forest and plains during the summer were utilized.

During ~1979 to 81, , was tested on uniforms at Ft. Benning, Georgia ..?.

However, from 1978 into the early 1980s, pixelated design elements could be seen through their use in painted camouflage schemes on both the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment's and the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment's M1 Abrams tanks and M113 APCs.

This pixel square aspect to the pattern would resurface again later.

Desert camouflage environments

In use since 1991, Tricolor Desert was the standard desert camouflage

The design methods for 6-Color Desert, of which Tricolor Desert is a derivative and its other prototype familial patterns still remain largely unknown, however are likely identical to that of 1948 ERDL, being hand-drawn and receiving limited field testing if any.

Snow camouflage environments

Standard overwhites

Initial use

In use since 1970?, Solid White was the standard snow camouflage, the Overwhites. on the M1950 parka and overtrousers. (History of environment blending capability) Going back to the revolutionary war in which soldiers wore white tailcoats (or something, def cap but still).

First notable (relevant application) make-shift appearance

1940 10th Mountain Division

Around 2004 at the conclusion of the UCFW trials, the Marine Corps Systems Command would begin development in conjunction with Guy Cramer of Hyperstealth ADS to develop a new MARPAT Snow pattern for Marines to use in arctic terrain.

ARCTIC WARRIOR 91

Snow Woodlands camouflage variant being tested in January 1991. The absence of overwhite parka is due to in-treeline camouflage doctrine

During 1991, the prototype patterns were Snow Woodlands (1990), 3-Color Snow (1990), and 2-Color Snow (1990) tested in the forms of reversible overwhite parkas and trousers, reversible helmet covers, and pack covers. exercise Arctic Warrior '91 on 31 January .

Goretex Snow Woodlands (1991) by US soldiers of the 5th Special Forces. Declined for adoption and then sold commercially.

Urban camouflage environments

Main article: Operation Urban Warrior

Although officially not any branch nor the US Army itself had adopted an environment-specific urban pattern, several were acquired or produced for the US Marines though tested only in concept.

after the theorizing of the 3 block war.

Operation URBAN WARRIOR

(LOE 1) Limited Objective Engagement 1

During January 1998,

(LOE 2) Limited Objective Engagement 2

During April 1998,

1999 T-Block test week

During March 1999, T-Block Urban was used

prototypes of 2-Tone Urban (1994), 2-Tone Desert-Urban, T-Block (1999), and T-Block Desert-Urban (1999).

• 
  Standard US Woodlands during Operation Urban Warrior
• 
  Commercial Urban Woodlands testing for Operation Urban Warrior LOE 1

After all that and with LW and FFW on the come-up Natick was probably like Damn... We need some new camos

Maybe just make into a straight chronological sequence of events? and have the environments studied be footnotes instead

Single environment-standard work-arounds

During Operation Desert Storm in 1991, the first operation in which the US military had to operate in a mainly non-woodland environment. There were production slow downs and logistics issues that made lots of units not have their correct camouflaged uniforms for the deployment right away and some ended up not receiving any uniforms throughout the entire conflict.

Experimental reversible uniforms

Main article: Both sides printed garments

In 1998, the capability to print both sides of a uniform was developed by Natick Soldier Center.

PROS This is cool because it makes logistics ez. Shipping

PROBLEMS Too heavy

Everywhere printer

Main article: Rapid Deployable Camouflage

Rapid Deployable Camouflage, NSC prototype to print new camo for new environment covered by frontline soldier.

and was shifted toward the backburner of research projects to look into how to remediate logistical concerns.

spectral terrain data was collected from an urban location at the Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT) site in Camp Pendleton, California.

PROS On-demand camo

PROBLEMS Logistical complexity. Poor Colorfastness. Expensive/Slightly wasteful of synthetic fabrics

UCFW was a subset research project of the Future Force Warrior program, intended to develop effective camouflaging for the 2010 Future Warrior.

Development

Pattern development

Shade room of POET at the Natick Soldier Center in Natick, MA

To generate fresh ideas, the team contracted a designer to draw new patterns on paper using information based on decades of camouflage research at the Soldier Systems Center.

The Terrain Analysis System (TAS), on-hand at NSC since at least 25 July 2000, involves collecting data for any background on videotape from environments of interest.

data is brought back into the laboratory and read into a computer.

scene can then be broken down into a user-specified number of the most predominant colors and shapes in the scene and used to design a camouflage pattern.

Its development process is (almost certain to/highly likely to) have been used to create Brush, Shadowline, and Track patterns in each colorway of Woodland, Desert, Urban, and Desert-Urban.

Used preexisting patterns of 1993 BDUs for cutting of new experimental-patterned BDUs. In-house pattern-cutting and sewing

Cool prints and cad

Spectrophotometer

The Camouflage Evaluation Facility at Natick Soldier Center in Natick, MA. Seeing manikin testing with ACU and OTV in UCP.

Fancy Shmancy Benchtop Testing

On cardboard squares or cork pinboards, swatches were studied in the Camouflage Evaluation Facility (CEF). tested the 6 patterns

Simulated Day

Simulated Night

1 Moonless Overcast

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9 Near Twilight

Seven initial designs in color printouts were reduced to three after benchtop testing in the Camouflage Evaluation Facility at Natick.

Six patterns were originally developed in early 2002 and reviewed for effectiveness, with three of the six designs being rejected due to limited effectiveness.

The final three patterns, All-Over Brush, Shadowline, and Track were evaluated at the US Army Natick Soldier Center, and four color schemes were created for each pattern.

(OFFICIAL SEALS AND LOGOS OF NATICK, PEO-SOLDIER, & CRYE PRECISION)

Color selection

Based on historical and spectral terrain data and visual imagery collected, color chips from the Pantone Textile Color Specifier. were selected to match the collected imagery for Woodland, Urban and Desert terrain.

During the color development process, a new requirement surfaced to develop a common color in all 12 experimental patterns to make Clothing and Individual Equipment (CIE) interchangeable if multiple camouflage patterns were going to remain in the system. Slight color modifications to the new designs were made to accommodate this new requirement.

(INKJET PRINT PROCESS & PRODUCED BDUS ILLUSTRATIONS --GALLERY)

Inside the shade room,

Patterns

2002 Army Times Camouflage Pattern Popularity Poll showing Desert Brush as the winner, foreshadowing its top placement in the outcome of the trials

All-Over Brush pattern

All-Over Brush

All-Over Brush, or Brush for short, consisted of swirls of colors similar to patches of grass and brush. In a poll from the Army Times in 2002, Brush was voted the most popular pattern in the Woodland, Desert, and Urban schemes. During conclusion of Phase I testing, the Urban and Desert-Urban schemes were eliminated, with the Woodland scheme being eliminated after the second phase of testing. Desert Brush made it through Phase III in a modified, more all-environment friendly form, to then for Phase IV be reverted back to the the initial production-printed colors.

Shadowline pattern

Shadowline

The Shadowline pattern sported horizontal geometric lines with slashes. All four color combinations were eliminated during Phase I of testing. It shares the same overall structure that Track has.

Track pattern

Track

The Track pattern featured vertical geometric lines with small, irregular marks present throughout. All four color combinations made it to phase two of testing, with a modified Woodland pattern and modified Urban pattern making it through Phase III & IV. It shares the same overall structure that Shadowline has.

Scorpion pattern

Scorpion

Scorpion was developed in conjunction with defense contractor Crye Precision. Originally called plainly "Contractor-Developed" by Natick Soldier Center's (NSC) Material System Integration Team (MSIT)/Product Optimization & Enhancement Team (POET) and "Crye" by Natick Soldier Center's The Warrior magazine. The name "Scorpion" was later derived from that of the Scorpion Individual Protection Analysis (IPA) Combat Ensemble of the Future Force Warrior program that used it.The pattern consists of six colors with an irregular spread throughout, and was designed to be effective in multiple environments. Following the trials, Crye began producing a slightly altered version for the commercial market as MultiCam.

Pattern testing

Evaluation ratings

Observer ratings had a possible range from zero to one hundred. These were determined by measuring the placement of their rating marks on the 100mm line scale used in the rating logbooks.

Once measured, the data was entered into computers using a Statistical Package for the Social Sciences Data Entry (SPSSDE). The rating data was paired with target information using pre-designed observer and target metrics. Data was then cleaned and verified.

The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and Microsoft Excel were used to carry out data analyses and create graphical and tabular summaries of the results during the four phases of the data collection.

Analyses of variance were performed to identify any significant differences in blend ratings caused by the test variables: camouflage design (blending. contrast, ___), terrain, time of day, distance, posture/view, and target location.

(dugas.ppt Viewer Detection Form Scan)

Phase I

12 Patterns Evaluated Total

All-Over Brush

• 
  Woodland
• 
  Desert
• 
  Urban
• 
  Desert-Urban

Track

• 
  Woodland
• 
  Desert
• 
  Urban
• 
  Desert-Urban

(INKJET PRINT PROCESS & PRODUCED BDUS ILLUSTRATIONS --GALLERY)

Where vat-dyed screen printed minimum yardages would be $5,000 at the lowest, inkjet could produce as many inches as the user so desired.

Most Inkjet's reactive and acid dyes are Expensiveeee. Stork Textile Printer Amber.

Trained soldiers rated the patterns based on blending, brightness, contrast and detection.

color, pattern shape, brightness, contrast, and reflectance (at night) in a manner which reduces the amount of perceivable separation from the background

Phase one consisted of only side-by-side daytime testing at distances up to 180 meters (590 ft) with patterns printed by an inkjet printer.

Eleven candidates were selected and production printed for phase two of testing, which contained both day and nighttime evaluations at distances no greater than 120 meters (390 ft).

All non-combat, chillax treeline, sand dune horizon, or building window searching

Desert test at Fort Irwin NTC, California in October 2002.

(DAY ALL-ENVIRONMENT PICTURE GALLERY)

(DATA CHART GALLERY)

Eliminations

Phase I	All-Over Brush	Track	Shadowline
Woodland	to Next phase	to Next phase	Eliminated
Desert	to Next phase	to Next phase	Eliminated
Urban	Eliminated	to Next phase	Eliminated
Desert-Urban	Eliminated	to Next phase	Eliminated
Transitional

Phase II

7 Patterns Evaluated Total

All-Over Brush

• 
  Woodland
• 
  Desert

Track

• 
  Woodland
• 
  Desert
• 
  Urban
• 
  Desert-Urban

Scorpion W0 (Contractor-Developed)

(IMPROVISED SWATCH RENDER)

Patterns were tested separately in phase two.

Surprising amounts of vat-dyed surplus bolts surfacing following the trials themselves lend itself to excess yardage that is generated as minimum print length requirements.

April 2003 Urban test at Fort Polk, LA

• 
  Desert Brush individual blending Urban Daytime test in February 2003

(DAY ALL-ENVIRONMENT PICTURE GALLERY)

(NIGHT ALL-ENVIRONMENT PICTURE GALLERY)

(DATA CHART GALLERY)

Eliminations

Phase II	All-Over Brush	Track	Shadowline	Scorpion W0
Woodland	Carried on	wasd	Eliminated
Desert
Urban
Desert-Urban
Transitional

Phase III

The goal of a universal camo was introduced. Patterns were modified using ?

The goal was to develop a single pattern that would perform well in all terrains.

5 Patterns Evaluated Total

All-Over Brush

• 
  Desert Mod

Track

• 
  Woodland Mod
• 
  Light Urban Mod
• 
  Dark Urban Mod

Scorpion W1 (Contractor-Developed Mod)

(IMPROVISED SWATCH RENDER)

The modified Desert Brush, modified Woodland Track, split-modified Light and Dark Urban Track, and modified Scorpion were evaluated in phase three.

The final phase of which plain BDU prototype cuts were made.

vvv ...Period example of uncertainty in going from environment-specific camouflage to universal camouflage .. .. ..

(summarize and remove quote-->) "Woodland camouflage is still based on the European threat of the Cold War" said Anabela Dugas, textile technologist at the Soldier Systems Center. "...Until we do an evaluation, we don't know if there's a better alternative."

November 2003 Desert test at Yakima YTC, WA

Desert Daytime Test 1 or 2 at Ft. Irwin (NTC), Yakima (YTC), or Ft. Lewis in March 2004

(DAY ALL-ENVIRONMENT PICTURE GALLERY)

(NIGHT ALL-ENVIRONMENT PICTURE GALLERY)

Eliminations

Phase III	All-Over Brush (Mod)	Track (Mods)	Scorpion (Mod)
Woodland		to Next phase
Desert	Reverted; to Next phase
Urban		Reverted; to Next phase
Desert-Urban
Transitional			to Next phase

Phase IV

4 Patterns Evaluated Total

All-Over Brush

• 
  Desert

Track

• 
  Woodland Mod
• 
  Urban

Scorpion W1 (Contractor-Developed Mod)

(IMPROVISED SWATCH RENDER REPRODUCIBLE)

Desert Brush, Woodland Track Mod, Urban Track and Contractor-Developed Mod aka Scorpion Mod (actual Scorpion) were evaluated in phase four.

Modifications to Desert Brush and Urban Track were reverted back to their original Phase II initial production-printed colors. (How many tests in each environment-->) During phase four of testing, the selected patterns were printed on Future Force Warrior ensembles and evaluated from four different angles against Woodland, Desert and Urban backgrounds. Forced choice, side-by-side comparison.

March 2004 Desert test 2 of 2 at Fort Irwin, CA

• 
  Desert Brush
• 
  Scorpion W1 (Contractor-Developed Mod)
• 
  Urban Track
• 
  Woodland Track Mod

April 2004 Urban test 2 of 2 at Fort Benning, GA

The final Urban test returned to the McKenna MOUT site at Ft Benning, Georgia.

(DAY ALL-ENVIRONMENT PICTURE GALLERIES)

• 
  Unscientific close-up of the Phase IV Woodland Daytime 90 meter forced comparison test in March/April 2004
• 
  Unscientific close-up of the Phase IV Urban Daytime 90 meter forced comparison test in March/April 2004

Desert Daytime Test 1 or 2 at Ft Polk or Ft Irwin, in March 2004

(NIGHT ALL-ENVIRONMENT PICTURE GALLERIES)

Results

Phase IV	All-Over Brush	Track	Scorpion W1
Woodland		2nd place (Mod)
Desert	1st place
Urban		4th place
Desert-Urban
Transitional			3rd place (Mod)

During Wednesday, 15 December, 2004, dugas.ppt was presented on Day 3 of the 5-day long International Soldier Systems Center Conference (ISSC) in one of 45 meeting rooms at Marriott Copley Place in Boston, MA. Those in the audience would've been foreign leaders and high ranking army officials.

could cite while quoting info

Visual phase changes

Phase I (Inkjet Printed)

All-Over Brush

• 
  Woodland
• 
  Desert
• 
  Urban
• 
  Desert-Urban

Track

• 
  Woodland
• 
  Desert
• 
  Urban
• 
  Desert-Urban

Shadowline

(No Officially Released Swatches)

Phase II (Production Printed)

All-Over Brush

• 
  Woodland
• 
  Desert

Track

• 
  Woodland
• 
  Desert
• 
  Urban
• 
  Desert-Urban

Phase III (Mods)

All-Over Brush

• 
  Desert (Mod)

Track

• 
  Woodland Mod
• 
  Light Urban Mod
• 
  Dark Urban Mod

Phase IV (FFW System Level)

All-Over Brush

• 
  Desert

Track

• 
  Woodland Mod
• 
  Urban

Use in uniform and equipment programs

Future Force Warrior usage

Main article: Future Force Warrior

In 2002, the FFW Future Soldier 2010 ensemble sported Urban Brush and Desert-Urban Brush as its two go-to patterns. The pattern's flowing tall grass was an optimistic representation of the technologies soon-to-be effect on all future conflicts for the good guys... A breeze.

Martian Scorpion in August 2002

In August 2002, Martian Scorpion was used at a Pentagon press conference. Drip

Also in August 2002, the first evaluations of Phase I begin at Fort Benning.

In Scorpion W1

Additionally in August 2002, the first evaluations of Phase I begin at Fort Benning.

Scorpion W1 was succeeded by MultiCam. Patented by Crye Associates in 2011.

Scorpion pattern on the FFW Ensemble sometime in 2005

Between 2002-08, the Future Force Warrior Ensemble was was made in the following patterns:

• Urban Brush
• Desert-Urban Brush
• Martian Scorpion
• Scorpion W1 (finalized variant)

Close Combat Uniform usage

Main article: Close Combat Uniform

Two of the experimental patterns saw field testing at training centers throughout the contiguous United States, particularly at Fort Lewis, Fort Irwin NTC, and Fort Polk.

CCU

During 2003-04, the Close Combat Uniform (CCU) is expected to have been used in the following patterns:

• Urban Track II
• Scorpion W1 (finalized variant)

Experimentally:

• Desert Track II (on PEO Soldier display)

CU

Between 2004-05, the Combat Uniform (CU) is confirmed to have seen usage in the below pattern:

• Urban Track II

Experimentally:

• Lunar Trackless

UCP Override

Main article: Universal Camouflage Pattern

The Universal Camouflage Pattern (UCP) was eventually adopted despite not having been part of the test. Brigadier General James Moran, the Director of PEO-Soldier, overrode the testing data and directed the adoption of this untested camouflage pattern. Likely only underwent benchtop testing at the Camouflage Evaluation Facility.

On Monday 14 June, 2004, the Universal Camouflage Pattern was first unveiled on the Army Combat Uniform (ACU) during the US Army Birthday cake-cutting ceremony in the Pentagon's courtyard. At the event, certain PEO-Soldier team members wore the futuristic-looking uniform. It came after the UCFW trials and the final settled uniform cut after four iterations over a year-and-a-half period of uniform cut experimentation and field testing on the Close Combat Uniform (CCU).

Scorpion to OCP

Main article: Operational Camouflage Pattern

The four top-placing patterns (Desert Brush, Woodland Track Mod & Urban Track, minus Scorpion) of UCFW would appear later in a swatch table of a report addressing the US Army's limited camouflage pattern adoption selections given that since 2015 they could no longer begin research projects without congressional approval.

The Operational Camouflage Pattern (OCP), a modified version of the Scorpion pattern from the original trials dubbed 'Scorpion W2', has been selected as the new pattern. It has been authorized for wear since 1 July, 2015. The Universal Camouflage Pattern was authorized until 1 October 2019.

See also

• 1962-65 US Army Fort Benning Trials
• 1973-75 US Army MASSTER Trials
• West Point Dual-Tex Trials
• 1986-87 US Army Daytime Desert Camouflage Trials
• 2006-09 US Army Photosimulation Trials
• 2010 US Army OEF Camouflage Pattern Trials
• 2014 US Army OCP Trials
• List of camouflage patterns