Modern camouflage: the principles of creation, species, prospects. 2 part
Part of 2. Camouflage Anglo-Saxon Nations
History mass introduction of camouflage in the US Armed Forces began, unlike the USSR, not during the years of WWII, but during the Vietnam War.
Before the Vietnam War, camouflage was used only by the United States Marine Corps (which is considered a separate branch of the military), and then not in droves. It was a camouflage developed during WWII, similar in texture to modern Australian camouflage (see below). The main part of the US Armed Forces in the Korean War and the beginning of the Vietnam War wore a field uniform of olive color.
During the fighting in the jungles of Vietnam, it turned out that the plain form does not provide a sufficient level of disguise for soldiers. The first to try to solve this problem were servicemen of special units - they bought at their own expense camouflage Tiger Stripe of Philippine production (which the Filipinos themselves created on the basis of the French Lizard, taking into account local specifics).
Fig. 1. Philippine Commercial Camouflage Tiger Stripes
Officially, this camouflage on the supply in the US Armed Forces was not, it is exclusively commercial camouflage, used by the military in their own initiative.
However, the problem remained, and the Americans were forced to develop their own camouflage. The first truly massive American camouflage was Woodland.
Woodland
This camouflage was originally designed for action in the jungle, but then the principle of variability in the color gamut was applied to it, and it became universal. For a long time, it was the main camouflage of the US Armed Forces and was actively exported. Its production was mastered in a huge number of countries that produced both its original version and adapted versions. Even in Russia, there is an adapted version of Woodland, called the “Forest”, although it does not consist in supply anywhere, but was actively used in the 1990-s.
Fig. 2. Woodland most common coloring options
At the moment, Woodland has already been withdrawn from supplies in the US Armed Forces (remained only in the National Guard), but its widest distribution in the 1980 has contributed to the fact that at the moment Woodland is considered the most used camouflage in the world.
Officially consists of supply in a huge number of countries, especially in Latin America. With some minor changes there exists as the main camouflage in Spain and Syria.
Cadpat
Actually, this is not American, but Canadian camouflage, but it is classified as “USA”, because it became the ancestor of almost the entire line of second-generation American camouflage.
For a long time, the Canadian army, like the American, wore an olive uniform, and only at the beginning of the 1990-s thought about their own camouflage. They created what is called "Kadpat" - from the words "Canada" and "Pattern" (in this case - "colors").
Fig. 3. Cadpath
The simulation function is implemented in Kadpat at a very high level. Canadians have developed this camouflage, taking into account the Canadian landscape conditions - the predominance of mixed and coniferous forests - which is why its color range, being “narrowly sharpened”, is ideal for Canada. As for the implementation of the deforming function, the Canadians used the experience ... The USSR, and, by analogy with the GLC, they made not spots of smoothly rounded forms, but used a lot of small square elements. The fact is that square elements, despite the lack of correspondences in living nature, work very well “in motion” - better than elements of smooth forms. As a result, of course, they did not sit on two chairs (Kadpat does not reach the GLC for the deforming function — the spots are not enough), but at least they tried.
After the adoption of a new camouflage by the Canadian army, the Americans decided to keep up. The first to think about changing camouflage, as usual, were the USMC (marines), because, in fact, they fight more often and they are more needed. Realizing that Canadians have good camouflage, but it would be strange if Americans wear non-US equipment, the American Marines created their own camouflage, taking Kadpat as a base. The result was Marpat.
Marpat
On the offer of Canadians not to spend money on developing a bicycle, but simply to buy either Canadian kit or uniform Kadpat patent, the Americans responded: “You have camouflage narrowly for Canada, but we need a more universal one”, and developed Marpat.
Fig. 4. Marpat
In principle, Marpat is indeed more versatile than Kadpat. In the sense that for him, Marpat, it is equally difficult to find landscape conditions in any TVD, in which the simulation function will be implemented on 100%.
However, in the new colors, USMC fighters looked cooler than military personnel from other branches of the army in Woodland, which made the rest of the Pentagon feel insulted. It was decided to transfer all US forces to a new form, for which development of a new pattern was ordered.
ACUpat (Acupat)
By the way, the Americans at the same time transferred ground troops to a new uniform - instead of wearing a BDU worn from Vietnam, they invented a rather good looking ACU. There was a question about how to color this ACU. The Canadians ’next offer was rejected, the Marines were told“ you’re still in your BDU, ”and the development of a new color pattern was started.
When developing the Acupata, the Americans proceeded from the following circumstances:
1. The main theater of operations one way or another in the near future is the Near and Middle East.
2. Try now find a non-urban area - everywhere solid buildings.
3. The battlefield is always dust and smoke.
4. The Wehrmacht had the beautiful color of the Feldgrau of the personal development of Hugo Boss.
5. Black is not found in nature (this is the REAL statement of the creators of Akupata).
As a result, it turned out that Americans quite seriously consider it a universal coloring. Well, in any case, then considered. In any case, members of the commission who approved the acceptance of Acupata.
Fig. 5. Akupat
I must say that in the urbanized area in the Middle East, in conditions of smoke and dust, Akupat works oh so good.
Fig. 6. Akupat in natural habitat
But in the European forest ...
Fig. 7. Akupat is unnatural for him, but natural for European theaters
In general, we do not understand something in universality, apparently.
Multicam
The US military, however, also did not understand something about the universality of Akupat. The fact is that they had to act in Iraq and Afghanistan not only in a desert and at the same urbanized area, as suggested by the developers of Akupat, but also (most often) against the background of something green. Apparently, the Americans (acceptors of Akupat) did not realize that the main hostilities are conducted in densely populated areas, and the desert itself becomes the theater of operations much less often. And in densely populated areas, green still prevails. And Iraq is mostly a steppe, not a desert. And in Afghanistan, green enough, too. In short, the US military expressed a friendly "phi" to Acupat a very short time after it was accepted for supply. But the servicemen are bonded people, but PMCs are not so much. It was with ChVKshnikov that the “nafig your Akupat” movement began. Chvkshniki quickly remembered camouflage, developed simultaneously with Akupat, but with much better versatility, - Multikame.
Fig. 8. Cartoons
Multicam is interesting in several things. First, it uses as many 6 colors and up to 10 transition colors of these colors, and these transition colors are formed by the “diffusion” of color spots. Secondly, the Multikam is not one, but THREE background colors, and they are rather dull, and their spots are blurred. Non-background colors, however, have spots with pronounced boundaries, and as a result, these spots are perceived as being at a different distance than background ones (due to the fact that the eye perceives clearer objects as being in focus, and less clear ones as being out of focus which, in turn, leads to the illusion of a difference in the distance to these objects), which creates the illusion of empty space (in range) between them. This illusion of empty space performs a deforming function somewhat more effectively than large breaking spots, which, in combination with a dull background of natural shades (performing an imitation function), eventually creates one of the most effective camouflage of modern times.
Fig. 9. Multicam on the ground
Cartoons turned out to be so effective, and for almost any type of terrain, that at present it is second only to Woodland in prevalence. Cartoons are worn by security forces in virtually all countries. In Russia, for example, it is preferred by FSB special forces. In Ukraine, everyone who has enough money for him and common sense not to wear Flektarn is wearing him (more on that later). In England, on the basis of it, developed your cartoons. And only in the USA he ... officially is not a member of the supply, although half of the armed forces switched to him on his own initiative.
A-Tacs (A-Taks)
In those legendary times, when the Americans took on the supply form ACU, they announced a competition for the best camouflage. The result is known - Akupat, but initially the future (not created at the time) camouflage was called “Scorpion”, and even Nostradamus did not know what it would look like (however, the developers of Acupata, who “put it” on time) knew where to. Accordingly, the development of a new camouflage was named “Theme Scorpio”. It turned out that the topic of a long-playing one was already dressed in ACU, and Acupat was officially adopted, and Cartoons became the most common in the world, and the development of the Scorpion is still ongoing.
In addition to Akupat and Multikam, a few more camouflage claim the title of "Scorpion", one of which is A-Taks.
Fig. 10. A-Taks
A-Taks appeared a bit later than Akupat and Multikam, but within the framework of the same “Theme of Scorpio”. The developers of A-Dachshund proceeded from the same principles as the developers of Multicam, however, they took into account two facts:
1. Cartoons are only in one color, which may not like the customer (who learned the word "versatility" and burned on Akupate).
2. Old zasirarannaya KZSka sample 1957. on the deforming function is much steeper than the multi-billion-consumed-to-its-development of Acupata sample 2011 g.
Crossing the Multikas (with its 3D effect) with KZSka, and later washing the resulting product for greater blurring of the background spots, American developers received A-Taks. The soldier in A-Taksa looks like a blur in the background of horizontal burdock-shaped leaves, so both functions are implemented there with a bang.
Fig. 11. A-Taks in burdocks. Imitation and deforming action implemented at a very high level.
A-Tux exists in several colors reflecting different types of landscape (forest, desert, city).
Nowadays, Americans are scratching the skull in thought as to whether they should replace Akupat with A-Taks as officially accepted for supply. Two circumstances prevent the adoption of a decision on this: first, the hope that someone from the developers will still guess to lobby their interests at least in the same amount as the developer of Acupata; and secondly, the presence in nature of even more interesting camouflage - the Cryptek.
Kryptek (Cryptek)
A soldier in a multi-car looks like a dirty gray-brown indistinct spot at an incomprehensible distance. A soldier in A-Taksa looks like something indistinct on the edge of peripheral vision in burdocks. The soldier in Akupat looks like a soldier of the US Army, whose silhouette is clearly visible on most landscape backgrounds; In addition, the light gray color is an ideal background for the aiming marker (“crosshairs” in common). But the terrible and terrible Russians have a terrible and terrible “Raster”.
These considerations guided a group of enthusiasts, consisting of American veterans of the database in Iraq and Afghanistan, who decided to gash their own camouflage, and, perhaps, put it on the nominee for the Scorpion.
Continuing the tradition of the creators of A-Dachshund - the intersection of existing camouflage, the developers of Cryptek crossed the American Cartoons with the Russian Rast, bringing out an international hybrid. From Multicam, it has a background blur that makes it difficult to accurately determine the distance and creates an “empty space” effect; from Raster, a twisted mesh, and it is twisted in all three directions (as in Raster), which also creates the 3d effect. Also, the developers of Kriptek decided that camouflage should be not only effective, but also spectacular, and they made the net not in a dull brown color, like NPO “Special Materials”, but in the form of reptile scales. It turned out really cool.
Fig. 12. Cryptek in all its diversity
Like the developers of A-Dachshund, the Kryptek people did not bother with excessive versatility, but simply developed 6 colors: forest (Mandrake), steppe-desert (Nomad), demi-mountain (Highlander), city (Urban), winter (Yeti) and night (Typhoon).
Interestingly, the Cryptek members initially stated that their camouflage was primarily not intended for law enforcement agencies, but for hunters; however, they changed their minds.
Fig. 13. Mountain variant Kriptek on the ground
Since Cryptek is probably the most effective camo camouflage today (the most spectacular is for sure), imitations and analogs have already appeared. In particular, the Chinese made their own version of Kriptek (it is believed that they simply did not want to buy the Cryptec license, but they wanted to start production), but the Chinese version turned out to be somewhat worse - the background blur is not so pronounced, and the grid has smaller cells and occupies a larger area compared to the original.
At present, the Pentagon, like the Buridan donkey, is torn between Multicam, A-Taks and Kriptek in search of the optimal replacement for Akupatu.
After WWII, like the Americans, the British army wore a uniform-olive uniform, but even during the WWII, their special forces (SAS and parachute parachutes) wore separate camouflage elements of uniforms. That camouflage was a type of camouflage known as DPM.
DPM (DPM)
When designing camouflage, the British proceeded from the common sense that the battlefield was not exactly the same landscape as it was on this field before the battle. Elements of the landscape, you know, have a certain aesthetic impact of burning gases, fragments, shock waves, flying bullets and shells, and other human activities and its products.
With these features, PDM was developed. However, it turned out that the PDM shows quite good results with a virgin in relation to the impact of the OBD area.
Fig. 14. PDM
PDM stands for Disruptive Pattern Material. There are also urban and desert variants of PDM.
The first truly massive army, rather than narrowly sharpened special forces, variants of the Democratic Party were taken to supply the British Armed Forces in 1966 year. Since then, the PDM has changed its color gamut (or rather, shades) several times with a constant texture. Each new version of the PDM was assigned a digital index for the year of acceptance for supply - there are PDM-66, PDM-68, etc. The latest version of PDM was developed in 1995.
PDM proved to be quite effective for its time (it was believed that it is far superior to Woodland), so it became quite widespread not only in England and the countries of the British Commonwealth, but throughout the world (although not as wide as Woodland). There are a significant number of DPM clones; in Russia, an analogue of PDM is produced under the name “Smog” or “Doll”.
Fig. 15. PDM of Russian production ("Smog") on the ground
Currently, the PDM is being withdrawn from supplies in the UK Armed Forces, but remains in Ireland and a number of military units in the Netherlands.
MTP (MTP)
The history of the creation of the MTP, which replaced the PDM, is very simple.
The British really wanted cartoons, but wearing their younger brother's clothes was somehow not in English. The developers from Albion scratched their turnips and crossed the cartoons with the local PDM, and the result was called the Multi-Terrain pattern. In fact, do not call Cartoons with “middle background” elongated a la DPM spots “Multicam”.
Fig. 16. MTP Find 10 differences from Multikam - and get a prize from the Ministry of Defense of the United Kingdom
Currently, the ICC officially consists of the supply of the UK Armed Forces. In this, the British dashed off the Americans, who had not yet officially accepted the Cartoons.
Pencott (Pencott)
Pencott camouflage was developed by Hyde Definition in 2009. The history of creation is similar to the history of the creation of the Kriptek - in fact, camouflage was created by enthusiasts, and not by a special defense research institute.
Pencott is a "hybrid" camouflage, combining the positive side of a smooth-spotted and pixel color. There are no black elements in this camouflage. The imitation function is realized by the color and size of the spots, the deforming - by the pattern with 3D imitation and grouping of the spots.
Fig. 17. Pencott
In the figure of this camouflage one can see the strong effect of the German schemes of the times of WWII, even visually Pencott reminds the Russian "Partizan", which is absolutely created on the German experience.
Like most modern camouflage, Pencott exists in several color variations.
Fig. 18. Pencott Color Options
On the supply of nowhere is, is a commercial camouflage.
Australian troops typically participate in hostilities by various international contingents, where the United States plays a dominant role. On its territory, the Australians fought only against kangaroos, Aborigines and infested with poisonous spiders. Nevertheless, the history of the creation of the Australian camouflage has a somewhat strange logic in view of the above.
Auscam (Auskam)
Fig. 19. It's not American 1940's American camouflage, it's Auskam.
Australians took American camouflage worn by USMC during the WWII years. Then they flew around Australia in a helicopter, photographing the landscape to identify the dominant colors. And then, retaining the old American pattern, they put on the identified colors. Considering that the Australian army never fought on its territory, a somewhat strange logic. What happened, it is officially on the supply.
The next (final) part of our material will be devoted to camouflage in the rest of the world.
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