Multicam doesnt appear to be a digital pattern.

 

So does Multicam lose the *tested* advantage of" soldiers wearing digital pattern uniforms were 50 percent more likely to escape detection"?

 

Did the Army adopt Multicam in OEF because it was more popular?  Because it "looked cool like SOCOM?  Or what?

Even more ironic is that MARPAT is based on research originally done by the army.

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I think a slight clarification is needed here.

 

The Canadian Army started development of the CADPAT pattern in the 1980's. It was first fielded in the 1990's. By 2000, uniforms had been developed and issued.

 

The Marines worked with the Canadian Army to develop their pattern, MARPAT. It is basically a re-coloured CADPAT pattern.

 

The US Army came in after all of this.

 

The army that developed the research and fielded this pattern first was the Canadian Army.

 

Multicam is not a pixilated digital pattern.  Also Multicam was adopted by the Army in Afghanistan two years ago.  So that's not recent news.  It's callled OCP, for Operation Enduring Freedom Pattern.  It has not replaced UCP, it is just a temporary fix because UCP is only universal at universally standing out in every environment.  Come on, gray-green?  Congress demanded new camouflage for Afghanistan after complaints from soldiers.  The real news is that the Army has decided to finally admited that UCP was a mistake is looking for a new effective pattern.  It will not be Multicam or MARPAT.  They want three patterns, woodland, desert, and a neutral pattern for body armor and load bearing equipment.  Four companies are involved in the trials and the winning design should be introduced in 2013.

Same mistake all over again – 3 patterns that will be optimized for least common denominator of the environment they are expected to be used in, just like the UCP. They need to accept the fact that for effective camouflage dozens of patterns will be required, then come up with a quick way of evaluating which is best in a given area and printing them on the uniforms in the field. Probably some form of large ink-jet printer.