US Army Scorpion Pattern... Back to the Future!

TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
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Army selects new camo pattern
May. 23, 2014 - 04:32PM |

By Joe Gould
Staff report Army Times
Sources, on condition of anonymity, confirmed Friday that the service has selected Scorpion W2 as its next Army combat uniform camo, a pattern born out of Army Natick labs.

Numerous Army sources refused to comment on this story, expressing reluctance to get ahead of the service’s announcement on an issue that remains under intense Congressional scrutiny.

Military.com broke the news, reporting that Sgt. Major of the Army Raymond Chandler III has been briefing senior sergeants major throughout the Army about the new pattern for the Army Combat Uniform.

Known internally as Scorpion W2, a source said the pattern is likely to be announced under a different name.

Its color palette of muted greens, light beige and dark brown resembles MultiCam, the pattern used by soldiers deploying to Afghanistan. However, Scorpion W2 uses fewer beige and brown patches and none of the vertical twig and branch elements later added for MultiCam.

The new pattern will serve as the service’s primary camo pattern, but Army uniform leaders have said they envision a “family” of patterns with a dark jungle-woodland variant and a lighter pattern for desert environs. The main camouflage pattern would be worn in garrison, and the others would go to deploying troops.

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Natick derivedScorpion W2 from the original Scorpion pattern developed by Crye Precision, of Brooklyn, N.Y., MultiCam’s manufacturer. Crye officials did not respond to requests for comment.

Crye developed Scorpion under a government contract in 2002, and it was later used for Objective Force Warrior, a soldier systems development program, according to Guy Cramer, CEO of a competing camouflage developer, HyperStealth Biotechnology Corp., of British Columbia.

Cramer said while MultiCam and Scorpion may look similar, he believes MultiCam is better-performing.

The Scorpion W2, according to a source, was among the 22 patterns considered in 2010 when the Army began shopping for new combat uniforms. The Army narrowed that down to four finalists (Scorpion was not among them) and late last year it looked like leaders were nearing a deal with Crye to adopt MultiCam.

But then talks broke down over cost, according to Crye.

The Army’s options are somewhat limited. Congress, in the 2014 Defense Authorization Act, directed the Defense Department to rein in uniform spending and adopt a camouflage utility uniform or family of uniforms across all services. It has forced the Army to take a closer look at existing camouflage patterns — particularly those of its sister services, mainly the woodland and desert versions of the Navy and Marine Corps combat uniforms.

In March, an Army official confirmed the service could experiment with MultiCam colors if desired, noting a company can copyright a pattern but not a color palette.

Col. Robert Mortlock, the program manager for Soldier Protection and Individual Equipment, told Army Times at the time that the service examined camo beyond 50 meters and found that, while colors are important, the actual pattern is “not that relevant.
What is Scorpion? What is Multicam and how did this all happen?
Well we need to hit the Way back machine. Going back to 2002
in 2004 the Us army was working on Land Warrior. The US Army's soldier system, Now most of the Time we Think of Land warrior We Think of the Digital goodies. And the early generations were just that.
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Now Land Warrior was a program in three parts. Land Warrior which was meant to be the ready to go version. The second Phase was the "Future Force Warrior" which was a intermediate Technology program. In other words this would be technologies that were not quite ready yet but given a few years. and Finally the 2025 Warrior which is all dream technologies, stuff that might be ready by well 2025.
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now in the Future force warrior one of the dreams was a camouflage uniform. The Army wanted to save money and issue a single pattern that could cover as many areas of battle as possible. a Uniform that could be warn in the Artic, the Jungle, the Desert, the beach, the Cities, the Mountains and then some.
And the Winner IS.... or was announced in 2004
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All Around Brush
this pattern was the most effective of the Trials. The Third place winner was Scorpion pattern a Joint form Crye Precision and the Natick soldier center the other two rounded it out with a pattern called Urban Track scored the Worst. Universal Camouflage pattern Was not in the trials.
So where did it come form? well Take a look at Urban Track
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now Compare.
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That's right They used Urbantrack's Color on a Marpat based Screen.

Now a Personal Admission When the Us army First Announced the ACU the much younger more Naive me thought the pattern might be of use or even just be a Urban pattern. I was caught up in it's coolness. then I saw Multicam and though it would be the real pattern of issue. As Time as Gone by I have realized the foolishness of my younger self.

I was not the only one to realize the Folly of there Selection. UCP quickly became recignized as epic Fail even becoming one of the first of the great memes.
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In 2009 The Army had a learned the Failings Of UCP. they began experimenting. they started out with a rather simplistic answer add another color.
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UCP delta was created by adding Coyote brown to the mix this color was liberally mixed in in hopes that through this impregnation the counselling effects would be bolstered. it did have the desired effect by but only to a limited degree, And Compounding the Army's troubles by this point Congress had stepped in.
The Army decided to move in four parts.
Phase 1 consisted of field testing of Fire resistant uniforms. these were issued to two battalions in a mix of type UCP, UCP-Delta and Multicam.
Phase 2 consisted of expanded trials. with a team infiltrated into Afghanistan to test a series of patterns won on both uniform and Armor. included was UCP, Multicam, UPC Delta with UCP, Mirage ( a commercial pattern)
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Desert Brush.
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And Finally AOR-2 (NAvy Work Uniform with Ranger Green armor)
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Phase III Expanded on this adding more camouflage types. the Data form this trial concluded that Camouflage types Tailored to there Environment worked the best it also showed that as a Over all Camo Multicam worked well in Afghanistan.
They tested across four terrain types.
In Rocky Desert terrain

1st Place Multicam
2nd Place USMC Woodland MARPAT Digital
3rd Place Woodland Digital

In Mountainous Terrain testing

1st Place Tie Multicam and U.S. Navy AOR-Universal both tested equal
2nd Place Woodland Scorpion
3rd Place U.S. Navy AOR-2

Cropland/Woodland tests

1st Place Woodland Digital
2nd Place U.S. Navy AOR-2
3rd Place USMC Woodland MARPAT Digital

Sandy Desert Terrain tests

1st Place DCU Digital
2nd Place U.S. Navy AOR-1
3rd Place Desert Brush
4th Place USMC Desert MARPAT

Phase VI was begun to down select. the Army started with requirements for each entry form each maker to include three to Four variants One Transitional, One Woodland, One Desert and one optional for personal equipment.
The Goverment originally offered a number of patterns it owned but in the end withdrew them in favor of four commercial patterns. Four Entries were Down selected. These Entries were
ADS/Hyper stealth who was the only entry to take the Personal Equipment option,
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Brookwood
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Crye Precision
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And Kryptex
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The Army down selected to Crye precision. However The army wanted to own the pattern. They belived that the material printers were over charging them and thought that they could save some money by buying out Crye precision. Crye had already licensed and sold the rights to any number of makers and nations for there national use, And Crye reasoned that the additional costs would not disappear and over the long run Crye needed it's cash cow. Negotiations broke down.

The Army stopped talking and then today they started whispering. And a ghost form the past returned,
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TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
Well kiddies Back to the Future Forward to the past!
Those who read my postings on the Army camo wars might remember the term "Bookend Patterns".
What is a bookend pattern? well my A bookend pattern is meant for use in the specific areas. "Bookending" a pattern is nothing new and been around for a while in the 1940's the US Army experimented with "Frogskin" A blotch type pattern that was printed for a reversible uniform.
One side was browns the other greens and brown this allowed it some degree of camouflage and could by reversing the uniform be changed form woodland to desert.
Remember Scorpion is a Jack of all trades pattern it's meant to work in as many places as possible but by doing so it's less effective in each. To Counter this the Army originally called for all Phase IV entries to be "Families" of patterns. This would mean that Entry's was not one camo set but a number each tailored to a specific environment. The easiest way to make book end is change the colors.
in Example
John Wayne Dense Tiger stripe for Woodland
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Desert Tiger for well self explanatory.
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But that Doesn't always create a effective pattern. you also have to consider the Orientation of clutter and density of the surroundings. Jungle are vertical, trees go up there leaves hang down they are also dense, Deserts are Horizontal there very open and spacial.

Crye Precision's Multicam took the win in the Phase IV and had they worked a deal the US Army would have adopted the Multicam family but then when negotiations fell apart the Army seems to have lost it's bookends.
Now this morning Soldier systems Daily blog posted that the US army is now going to Evaluate MARPAT Woodland/MARPAT Desert against M81 Woodland and DCU desert pattern.
Now why?
First look at the patterns.

Digital MARPAT
woodland
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desert
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vs
"Analog"
M81
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DCU
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Now this is odd. I find it odd because, The Marines pretty much started a War with the Navy to restrict Use of there Desert pattern which resembles Marpat Desert, They are also highly protective of their pattern. Second Marpat is a second generation digital pattern a direct evolution of CAPAT, It was the second of the trend of "Digital" (pixelated) patterns. infact the color way of Marpat desert is a slightly modified version of a rejected Canadian color way.
Since then There have been substantial improvements to Digital patterns.

Second Reason this is odd is it's looking at two older Analog patterns. DCU is a 3 colored translation of M81 into a desert pattern it first came into issue replacing "Chocolate Chips" Pattern Camo in 1989. M81 was introduced in 1981 and is a modification of ERDL pattern form the 1970's.

The Third reason it's odd is The four patterns have no real relationship to Scorpion. And one wonders if they could work with it. IF they cannot then the Army would have to move back to specialized uniforms for specialized areas rendering the whole reasoning for Multicam and Scorpion Mute.

The Fourth reason it is odd is these patterns were tested against the Phase IV patterns and were shown to be inferior to the final entries.

The Fifth is there is every indication that there are Scorpion Woodland and desert variants.

With the rising tensions in South East Asia the US Army has begun shifting it's uniform system back to the needs of Jungle fighting. the Us Army recently issued RFI's for Jungle boots ( the existing boot system is Desert and Mountain based) and Lightweight high Humidity Combat uniforms. they also opened the new Army Jungle School at Schoffield Barracks in Hawaii.

Now here Comes the Stupidity the 2014 NDAA
SEC. 352. REVISED POLICY ON GROUND COMBAT AND CAMOUFLAGE UTILITY UNIFORMS.

(a) ESTABLISHMENT OF POLICY.—It is the policy of the United States that the Secretary of Defense shall eliminate the development and fielding of Armed Force specific combat and camouflage utility uniforms and families of uniforms in order to adopt and field a common combat and camouflage utility uniform or family of uniforms for specific combat environments to be used by all members of the Armed Forces.

(b) PROHIBITION.—Except as provided in subsection

(c), after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of a military department may not adopt any new camouflage pattern design or uniform fabric for any combat or camouflage utility uniform or family of uniforms for use by an Armed Force, unless—
(1) the new design or fabric is a combat or camouflage utility uniform or family of uniforms that will be adopted by all Armed Forces;
(2) the Secretary adopts a uniform already in use by another Armed Force; or
(3) the Secretary of Defense grants an exception based on unique circumstances or operational requirements.

(c) EXCEPTIONS.—Nothing in subsection (b) shall be construed as—

(1) prohibiting the development of combat and camouflage utility uniforms and families of uniforms for use by personnel assigned to or operating in support of the unified combatant command for special operations forces described in section 167 of title 10, United States Code;
(2) prohibiting engineering modifications to existing uniforms that improve the performance of combat and camouflage utility uniforms, including power harnessing or generating textiles, fire resistant fabrics, and anti-vector, anti-microbial, and anti-bacterial treatments;
(3) prohibiting the Secretary of a military department from fielding ancillary uniform items, including headwear, footwear, body armor, and any other such items as determined by the Secretary;
(4) prohibiting the Secretary of a military department from issuing vehicle crew uniforms;
(5) prohibiting cosmetic service-specific uniform modifications to include insignia, pocket orientation, closure devices, inserts, and undergarments; or
(6) prohibiting the continued fielding or use of pre-existing service-specific or operation-specific combat uniforms as long as the uniforms continue to meet operational requirements.

(d) REGISTRATION REQUIRED.—The Secretary of a military department shall formally register with the Joint Clothing and Textiles Governance Board all uniforms in use by an Armed Force under the jurisdiction of the Secretary and all such uniforms planned for use by such an Armed Force.

(e) LIMITATION ON RESTRICTION.—The Secretary of a military department may not prevent the Secretary of another military department from authorizing the use of any combat or camouflage utility uniform or family of uniforms.

(f) GUIDANCE REQUIRED.—

(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall issue guidance to implement this section.

(2) CONTENT.—At a minimum, the guidance required by paragraph (1) shall require the Secretary of each of the military departments—
(A) in cooperation with the commanders of the combatant commands, including the unified combatant command for special operations forces, to establish, by not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, joint criteria for combat and camouflage utility uniforms and families of uniforms, which shall be included in all new requirements documents for such uniforms;

(B) to continually work together to assess and develop new technologies that could be incorporated into future combat and camouflage utility uniforms and families of uniforms to improve war fighter survivability;

(C) to ensure that new combat and camouflage utility uniforms and families of uniforms meet the geographic and operational requirements of the commanders of the combatant commands; and

(D) to ensure that all new combat and camouflage utility uniforms and families of uniforms achieve interoperability with all components of individual war fighter systems, including body armor, organizational clothing and individual equipment, and other individual protective systems.

(g) REPEAL OF POLICY.—Section 352 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 (Public Law 111–84, 123 Stat. 2262; 10 U.S.C. 771 note) is repealed.
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TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
The Tigers, The Coyotes, The Scorpions Oh My!

Okay Were slowly getting leaks about what the new uniform set will look like.
The Army it seems will be Adopting Coyote 498 brown colored boots. This is a darker color then the current Army issue and matches the Marine corps issue boots. The zippers and Velcro will be the same as those worn on the current issue Multicam uniform which is called Tan 499.
Now there is a notation I have to make.
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This is current issue multicam. made by Crye Precision
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This is British MPT owned by the MOD
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This is All terrain Tiger a Commercial alternative on the market. made by the same designers as the Airforces Tiger stripe pattern. made by Tiger stripe products
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This is Scorpion W1 owned by the Army and Crey
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The last Swatch I posted IS not The new Pattern! The Us Army is adopting a modification called Scorpion W2 we have no Idea what that really looks like. Rumor mill says it's close to Multicam but they have not released swatches. The Army is still buying both Multicam and UCP uniform sets in numbers. rumour mill is saying that the new uniforms will be sold via the Army's uniform stores then gradually phased across the service. the Army recently issued a RFI request for a Over dying method to change the existing TC50 UCP gear and it's likely Multicam will be used directly with Scorpion W2.
Other services like the USAF and elements of the USN who wear Multicam take it from Army stocks so they to will likely also slowly go Scorpion.
 

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
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What is Scorpion? What is Multicam and how did this all happen?

...

The Army down selected to Crye precision. However The army wanted to own the pattern. They belived that the material printers were over charging them and thought that they could save some money by buying out Crye precision. Crye had already licensed and sold the rights to any number of makers and nations for there national use, And Crye reasoned that the additional costs would not disappear and over the long run Crye needed it's cash cow. Negotiations broke down.

The Army stopped talking and then today they started whispering. And a ghost form the past returned,

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There is a lot of science and math that goes into generating these patterns...and they are adding more and more hi-tech into it as well.
 

TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
Army on Track to Deliver New Camo Pattern by 2015

Military.comJul 23, 2014 | by Matthew Cox
The head of U.S. Army Materiel Command said today that the service could start issuing its new MultiCam look-a-like camouflage uniforms as early as next year.
Gen. Dennis L. Via confirmed that the Army has adopted Scorpion W2 camouflage, a government-owned pattern that Army camouflage officials have altered to look nearly identical to the MultiCam pattern the service adopted for soldiers deployed to Afghanistan in 2010.
"I know the pattern, Scorpion 2, has been decided on," Via told reporters at a July 23 roundtable. He was not sure of the exact timeline, but said that process "I think is continuing on schedule."
"It seems to me that I thought [2015] was going to be the timeline before it's going to be issued. That was the last update I've received on the uniform," he said.
The adoption of Scorpion is the latest development in the Army's exhaustive effort to replace the ineffective, three-color Universal Camouflage Pattern. Roughly a year ago, Army uniform officials completed a four-year camouflage improvement effort, but congressional pressure to do away with service-specific camouflage patterns slowed the effort's momentum.
Congressional language in both the House and Senate Armed Services committee versions of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 2014 calls on the Pentagon to stop fielding service-specific camouflage patterns and instead develop a common pattern for the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, by 2018. Both versions talk about prohibiting the adoption of individual military service camouflage uniforms except under specific, limited circumstances.
Via said he was not certain of efforts ongoing with the services, but said the Army has to continue to "work with the services to be sure we come up with a uniform that each service would be able to utilize based on the various missions across the board. As far as I understand it, that's the direction that we are moving forward on it."
Army officials wanted to replace UCP with Crye Precision's MultiCam -- a pattern that has demonstrated consistent performance in multiple tests and was selected in 2010 as the Operational Camouflage Pattern, or OCP, for soldiers to wear in Afghanistan. However, problems emerged with price negotiations and the Army chose the Scorpion pattern, which was actually designed by Crye Precision under a government contract in 2002.
The company's owner, Caleb Crye, then improved the pattern, making it more effective and trademarked it as MultiCam.
The new Scorpion W2's resemblance to MultiCam may work to the Army's advantage since the service has spent nearly $3 billion on uniforms and equipment patterned in OCP for Afghanistan, a source told Military.com.
But it's still unclear if the Scorpion W2's similarity to MuliCam will create future legal challenges for the Army.
"I'm aware of the issue, but I'm not exactly certain how we will deal with that," Via said.
-- Managing Editor Michael Hoffman contributed to this report.
-- Matthew Cox can be reached at [email protected]
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2015 launch date.
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There is however a Issue to be hammered. There is no indications that the other four services are in on this.
Congress wants back to the days of one uniform for all and All for one uniform. The Marines have proclaimed that they will fight for MARPAT or rather that they are "All over MArpat like a Hobo on a sandwich." The Air Force should be a easy sale. there AIRPAT is well...
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Lack luster at best. oddly one of the participants in the Development of the ABU cooked up a pattern that would have been far more effective then the ABU. All terrain tiger a now commercially available pattern.
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The Navy and Marines however my be a harder sell. On a personal note I have always liked Tiger stripe patterns. it's a very effective pattern and it looks Bad___! I have always felt that US should have kept it and desert Tiger in the system if only for Opfor use Where the Classic patterns would allow realistic threat simulation. The Russians even adopted a modified number of Tiger stripe patterns
 

TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
Army statement on the Operational Camouflage Uniform
July 31, 2014

By Senior Army Spokesperson

ARLINGTON, Va. (July 31, 2014) -- The Army has selected a pattern as its base combat uniform camouflage pattern. The Army has confirmed through testing that the pattern would offer exceptional concealment, which directly enhances force protection and survivability for Soldiers.

The Army is naming the pattern the Operational Camouflage Pattern (OCP) to emphasize that the pattern's use extends beyond Afghanistan to all Combatant Commands. The Army's adoption of OCP will be fiscally responsible by transitioning over time and simply replacing current uniforms and equipment as they wear out.

The Army anticipates the Army Combat Uniform with the OCP will be available for purchase by Soldiers at Military Clothing Sales Stores (MCSS) in the summer of 2015.
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Until this Announcement every thing has been Open Secret and Rumor. This Confirms the pentagon's worst Kept Secret since Area 51
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Army announces rollout date for new camo
Jul. 31, 2014 - 06:17PM |


By Joe Gould
Staff report
FILED UNDER
News
Uniforms
Combat uniforms featuring the service’s newest camo pattern will be available for sale starting in the summer of 2015, the Army announced Thursday.

The Army is calling its new camo the Operational Camouflage Pattern, though it’s been referred to in previous tests as Scorpion W2. It is similar in appearance to Crye Precision’s MultiCam, but was developed by Army Natick Labs in Massachusetts.

Scorpion W2 uses a color palette of muted greens, light beige and dark brown.

The Army plans to transition to this new camo over time, phasing out the unpopular gray-green Universal Combat Pattern of the ACU. The Army, in a statement, said a phase-out of the older uniform was “fiscally responsible.”

The name “Operational Camouflage Pattern” is intended to emphasize that the pattern’s use extends beyond Afghanistan to all combatant commands. It will also be worn in garrison. However, leaders have said it would be just one part of a “family” of camo patterns that will also include a dark jungle-woodland variant and a lighter pattern for desert environs.

“The Army has confirmed through testing that [OCP] would offer exceptional concealment, which directly enhances force protection and survivability for soldiers,” according to the statement.

The brief statement ends months of official silence, though it was leaked in May that the Army would be selecting Scorpion W2.

In another potential cost-saving measure, the Army plans to retain wearable items in the Universal Camouflage Pattern and dye them coyote brown.

The Army is seeking to over-dye existing Modular Lightweight Load carrying Equipment (MOLLE) and Improved Outer Tactical Vests (IOTV) that are the digital Universal Camouflage Pattern to create a darker color that more closely matches coyote brown.

On June 20, the Army's program manager for soldier equipment posted a solicitation for industry partners who can over-dye nylon, cotton, rayon fabrics of various constructions.

To perform the dye work, the Army is seeking portable technologies that can be used outside of the manufacturing environment, suggesting the Army wants to save the cost of sending its equipment to manufacturers.
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