In a shocking decision, the Australian military announced today that they are going to conduct an extended wear trial of the MultiCam pattern for troops serving in Afghanistan. Like in the US and UK, Australian Special Operations Forces have long used MultiCam due to its increased effectiveness. Following their lead, Minister for Defence Materiel Jason Clare announced the change to the new pattern today at the biannual Land Warfare Conference in Brisbane. By “change” we mean the extension of the SF wear trial that has been going on for years.
“Special Forces soldiers have said this is the uniform they want to wear,” Mr Clare said. “The camouflage pattern provides troops with greater levels of concealment across the range of terrains in Afghanistan – urban, desert and green. It also makes it easier for our troops to do their job.”
The plan calls for all Australian troops going ‘Outside the Wire’ will be outfitted in MultiCam. What is really interesting is that Mr Clare discussed issuing the same uniforms used by his SOF which are the Crye Precision combat uniforms rather than the standard DPCU in a different camo pattern. However, he also stated that “I have also instructed the Defence Materiel Organisation to pursue the purchase of a licence to provide for the potential manufacture of this uniform in Australia if the extended trial is successful,” Mr Clare said. Could this be the groundwork for an Australian MTPesque creation?
Furthermore, does this initiative mean the demise of the short lived Disruptive Pattern Midpoint Uniform unveiled earlier this year? The whole point of the DPMU was to alter the DPCU’s pattern slightly to be more effective in Afghanistan. Designed by the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO), it combined the colors of the two uniforms the Australian Army currently uses.
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| Special Operations Task Group (SOTG) members enter the training compound at Multi National Base Tarin Kowt. Picture: Department of Defence |
