The gear US soldiers carry.

US soldiers military kit.

US Army camouflage (UCP) simply doesn't work

© Thimbleweed - Creative Commons.

Universal Camouflage Pattern (UCP) had been hailed as a wonder solution to the age old camo problem of how to make camouflage work across all terrain. Typically countries issue different camouflage for different theatres: desert, snow, countryside or urban. So when the computer designed UCP claimed to work in all theatres it seemed a BINGO! moment.

With one small problem: it didn't work (ref here and here).

Check out the following article which outlines the problem and the history of camouflage very nicely:

"All digital camo has two layers: a micropattern (the pixels) and a macropattern (the shapes the pixels form). If the scale of the macro blobs is too small—as they are with UCP—it triggers an optical phenomenon called "isoluminance," rendering the carefully-constructed camo pattern into a light-colored mass. In other words, it makes it incredibly easy to spot targets from a distance. That was one of the biggest problems with UCP"

Indian Army

Soldiers from the 4th Rajput Battalion, Indian Army. Source.

French Army

French Army recruitment video.

Shows combat uniforms.

French Foreign Legion

Combat and ceremonial uniforms video.

Egyptian Troops

Czech soldier

A Czech sergeant and a Croatian Master Sergeant in the field. I think the Croat didn't read the weather warnings or something as he turned up in his desert fatigues….

The Czech soldier is armed with a CZ-805 BREN assault rifle.

Photo Reference