The Army Ditches UCP (ACU)...Finally!

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The Army Ditches UCP (ACU)...Finally!

Post by Moondog »

It's finally official, UCP (aka ACU) is dead. The US Army Brass finally admit what most of the grunts and 99.9999% of the airsoft community soundly believe, that UCP sucks for outdoor concealment. Most of the frontline units in AStan were allowed to switch to MultiCam in 2010. And now the news is that the Army is on the look for an official replacement...
http://www.thedaily.com/page/2012/06/24 ... iasco-1-5/

The UCP pattern worst feature is its bluish color scheme. The tan/foliage/slate is at best an urban coloration and a retarded choice as the 'universal' color scheme. The ARMY could solve most of UCP's issues if it changed to an earthtone color palette like that used in Mirage, MultiCam, and others.

Here's a little visual comparison I did utilizing a simple color shift to a MultiCam color scheme. ACU is actually pretty good in high altatude desert environments. It's ok in middle-eastern urban settings (after it's been dirtied). But it tends to be too light in woods. It blends in against negative space (empty space between objects) but when you're in front of folliage, it stands out terribly.

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Not surprisingly one commercial camo makers have already come up with the same thoughts. Military Outdoor Clothing (MOC) calls it 'X-Camo'. It is essentially a UCP pattern with a color shift toward a more Multi-Cam like color palette. It ends up looking something like a cross between MARPAT and MultiCam. I don't think this will be as effective or 'universal' as Mirage due to its green dominant color scheme. http://www.militaryoutdoorclothing.com/ ... =90&page=1

Unfortunately, UCP's other issue is that the pattern is too homognized and at distances greater than 100m the shapes blend together and become too flat. Similar to wearing a solid color and it loses much of its ability to break up your silhuette. What would be needed is more uneven spacing of color in the pattern so that it creates a macro pattern that only shows up at +100m.

Here is the actual paper of the 2010 Natick trials: http://www.scribd.com/doc/46036323/ASC- ... -Technique
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