Article on new Camo developments

[Canada Guy]

There is a very interesting article in the 6 September 2008 issue of The Economist entitled “How to Disappear” (Centre technology section pg 21-24). It deals with recent improvements in camouflage and detection. Some interesting tidbits.

• AK-47s reflect light and allow greater sighting distances while the French Famas is non-reflective (I am assuming that the army/marine weapons would also be non-reflective).

• Canada has improved it camo so much in recent years that to spot soldiers in some conditions, observers must be 40% closer than they would have to have been in 2000

• Heat insulating foam applied 1 centimeter thick can make an APC resemble a motorcycle.

This may be outside the scope of the game but are heat signatures taken into account in CMSF? I think that Syria would lack squad based heat/light signature detection equipment but the Americans (Brits, Germans Canadians etc) would have access and so would have a greater sense of the enemy on the battlefield at night. It would be nice to flip a switch and see what a unit is detecting in a night action with the aid of equipment.

This would also mean that we are seeing units at a much greater distance (with greater information) in CM:Normandy and CM:Bagration than we can see them in CMSFduring the day (and reduced detection at night).

[The_Red_Rage]

Closest i got to heat detection hardware in Canadian Forces was during Stalwart Guardian 2005 in Petawawa. Basically, they set up a demo with this $800,000 contraption that looked similar to those civilian magnification devices you throw a coin in to view the sights. It was way too big and way too expensive to be carried by anything lower than battalion level. Looking downrange we were supposed to spot a guy hiding in the bushes - with 20/20 vision I had a hard time seeing anything resembling a human.

Americans might use them on wider scale, as I remember them having much cooler **** than us (pretty embarassing to drive an Iltass behing a Hummer).

[Roter Stern]

• Canada has improved it camo so much in recent years that to spot soldiers in some conditions, observers must be 40% closer than they would have to have been in 2000

Honestly that's not saying much, considering that Canadians did not have any form of camo uniform until 2000. So it's not that the camo improved - they simply introduced camo.

Closest i got to heat detection hardware in Canadian Forces was during Stalwart Guardian 2005 in Petawawa.

SG'05, eh? The last of the "Red Dawn" scenario exercises, before the CF finally realized that the Cold War is over and that the Western Germany is in no danger of getting overrun by an overwhelming force of Soviet armor

[Battlefront.com]

Camo is always a tradeoff between static and motion stealth abilities. When moving the best thing to have is a solid color that is consistent with the general background. In the desert, that would be tan, in a temperate area it would likely be some sort of green in summer, white in winter, etc. It is for this reason the Canadians stuck with Olive Green (OG) for so long. Austria has recently bucked the trend and introduced a new form of its Olive Drab (OD) colored uniform instead of camouflage.

The opposite is true when in a static position. The better camouflaged something is, the less likely it will be spotted. Some rather surprising color combinations work very well when stationary, but depends on distance (more on that in a sec). The color choices are important, though, and generally speaking colors should be chosen that mimic "filtered light" for temperate settings and not much for desert.

The other factor is distance. What is great at a far distance is often not optimal for short. This in turn depends on terrain factors. The Canadians, for example, employ a different digital pattern (pixel density) for their ARID CADPAT uniform because it is presumed that the soldiers will be spotted at farther distances than in a temperate environment. Therefore, the pixel clusters that make up the pattern are more sparse and muted compared to TEMPERATE CADPAT which are more dense and contrasty. Most other countries just recolor their temperate uniform in desert colors, often leaving out 1-2 colors, which generally works pretty well.

Another general rule of thumb is that the more contrast and definition in the camouflage pattern, the smaller the optimal range of terrain it can work in. German desert Flecktarn, for example, is quite "busy" compared to the nearly invisible sparse colors on Belgian desert Jigsaw. Overall I think the Belgian pattern is more effective in more situations, but the temperate versions of each are exactly the opposite with temperate Flecktarn being one of the best patterns out there and Belgian Jigsaw amongst the worst. But oh how I love Belgian Jigsaw anyway

Camouflage is a tricky thing and there really is no good solution. The Army's ACU is generally regarded, by camo junkies at least, to be a bad compromise solution. The previous BDUs and DCUs were probably more effective.

Steve

[Meach]

My combat jacket was charcoal lined. No one believes me but it was. Other folks in the unit had normal combat jackets but for some reason I was issued a charcoal lined with an inner liner.

I was told it was to keep my heat signature masked. All I did was carry the crow cannon and drive stuff around. Nothing special.

[flamingknives]

CBRN kit is charcoal-lined. Did you get fobbed off with an NBC jacket?

[Roter Stern]

Look what I found - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_camouflage_patterns

Something tells me one of these IP addresses in the edit history is Steve's

[BigDork]

[Battlefront.com]

One of my favorite pictures of all time! I hope to never, ever find myself looking at it without a big grin on my face

Steve

[SFC Kuba]

I'm a part time cavalry scout, and am getting ready to retire this month. As soon as I get ready to retire, the army gives me all the cool toys for my scout platoon.

The first toy is the LRAS (long range scout surveillance system). The LRAS is a vehicle mounted thermal sight that can spot an individual in concealment out to about 15km. It is very effective for static OP's and route recon. Too bad its capabilities are down played in this game.

The second toy is the AN/PAS-13 thermal weapons scope that can mount on any small arm in the US inventory. Everyone in my platoon is authorized a PAS-13 by MTOE. This means that all of my dismounts will have thermal capability. I hope Battlefront adds these sites to recon units.

The other thing I want to bring up is the ACU. ACU's are far superior to BDU's in avoiding detection by night vision equipment. We did a test using PVS-7B's (gen III) in detecting ACU's v. BDU's. Anyone in the military can tell you that BDU's tend to glow in the dark when veiwing with night vision. We were pleased to learn that ACU's are pretty much invisible to night vision goggles. I'm not sure if that has anything to do with the digitalized pattern or not.

The last thing I wanted to bring up are possible counter-measures to thermal sights. I was watching "Generation Kill" on HBO, and they had discovered an enemy fighting position where the gunner was covered with a blanket in order to mask his thermal signature. I found it interesting that not only was it such a low tech counter-measure, but that it was back in 2003.

I was in Iraq from 2004 to 2005. During the Battle of Holy Week (April 2004) convoys were getting ambushed along one of the main MSR's from entrenched positions. A platoon leader from our task force requested Apache support. The Apache was unable to detect any enemy dismounts using their thermal sites. I now wonder if they were using the aforementioned counter-measure. On a side note, the Apache was shot down by an RPG after about two minutes.

[Battlefront.com]

SFC Kuba,

Welcome! Congrats on the near retirement.

Yes, there were a couple of bugs with LRAS in v1.08 that were discovered and fixed. You should notice an improvement.

Ah... so they are now giving out AN/PAS-13s like candy, eh? Interesting. When we released the game the Javelin CLU was the only generally available dismount thermal capability generally available. So I searched and found this:

Monday, July 02, 2007 US Army contract awarded to Raytheon for the supply of 5,000 improved AN/PAS-13 Thermal Weapon Sights (TWS) worth $63 million. The contract award was announced on July 2, 2007. Contract options could bring the number of sights delivered to the US Army to 150,000 worth $2.61 billion. Deliveries are scheduled to start in December 2007 and will continue through June 30, 2012.

Items: 5,000 Options: 145,000

So, looks like you're on the receiving end of one of the larger batches purchased thus far. We'll definitely not be getting this into CM:SF 1, but for sure it will make it into CM:SF 2.

I'm pretty sure the improved anti-IR signature of the ACUs is due to the material and chemical treatment, not the pattern itself. I'm curious though... were the ACUs well worn? I'm sure I read somewhere that after a while of wash and wear that their anti-IR capability degrades (which is a standard problem for other uniforms).

Thanks!

Steve

[theFightingSeabee]

Do not starch your uniforms. Starch is reflective and you'll look like a shiny piece of metal in night vision.

[Secondbrooks]

I've heard that some rinses (well most of them infact) got these glowing things and it's the one which makes outfit shine.

[Meach]

Flaming Knives,

Probly did get a NBC jacket. I was the worst soldier in the history of the British Armed Forces so that would make sense lol.

[BigDork]

I've heard that some rinses (well most of them infact) got these glowing things and it's the one which makes outfit shine.

I know with the ABUs (Airman Battle Uniforms) we were told for a while not to use laundry detergents that contained optical brighteners. Of course what did the detergent that was provided for us in Iraq contain?

Anyway, an e-mail went out a few months later Air Force wide saying that it made no difference what detergent we used. Honestly if I as a Network Administrator am ever in a position where I need the anti-IR abilities of my uniform to save my life I'm already in a heap of trouble. For the ACUs it's definitely a different story.

[missinginreality]

I always figured a nice pair of slacks and a polo shirt would've been better urban camo than a black/grey/white dp.Guys running around in fatigues is a dead give away if you ask me

[Secondbrooks]

I know with the ABUs (Airman Battle Uniforms) we were told for a while not to use laundry detergents that contained optical brighteners. Of course what did the detergent that was provided for us in Iraq contain?

Anyway, an e-mail went out a few months later Air Force wide saying that it made no difference what detergent we used. Honestly if I as a Network Administrator am ever in a position where I need the anti-IR abilities of my uniform to save my life I'm already in a heap of trouble. For the ACUs it's definitely a different story.

Sounds bit of a screw up! Optical brighteners, yes that was the word.

Few reservists have looked their own home washed uniforms (with somekinds of detergents and maybe even rinses) with somesort night vision devices are saying that their uniforms aint' any different to 'army'-washed (Finnish army tells that home washing is no-no atleast for reservists having army-issued outfits, this optical brightness-thing is said to be reason for it). But fabric seems to react differently into active and passive IR both. I'd think that it would be worse with active IR if clothes are having optical brighteners, while with passive there might not be issue. However i'm just quessing.

[The_Red_Rage]

Hmmm, they never even bothered to tell us about any anti-IR qualities of CADPAT. Most guys wash their uniforms to the point of them going white with whatever detergent is around at the base canteen.

[Battlefront.com]

The problem with CADPAT is that there is a high artificial fiber content in the cloth itself. The chances are that the anti-IR treatment is less resilient compared to a similar treatment on 100% cotton. Plus, I would guess the high poly count increases refraction. At least that's my amateur guess since polyester is basically plastic and we know how well that absorbs stuff!

The primary camouflage effect comes from the carbon impregnated in the black color. As the black fades, so does the color. Some of the used CADPAT stuff I've had in my hands has about as much black color in it as a Klu-Klux-Klan robe It must also be fun to have a uniform that basically becomes transparent due to wear!

Steve

[The_Red_Rage]

Steve,

"Whited"-out uniforms and berets that fit so tight it cuts circulation to your eyes are pretty much the "fashion" standard in CF Neatly rolled up sleeves during summer time (again to the point of cutting circulation) and fitting non-baggy combats are also "in"

[Battlefront.com]

Back in 2001/2002 I got a hold of a bunch of surplus CADPAT which came from the 22nd Regiment after coming back from Bosnia (first production run too). They were all pretty beat up. A friend of mine in the CF tried to exchange a set of them for me so I could get new ones. Fortunately for me someone at the depot forgot to put "D" on a couple of pieces , which of course never should have been surplussed in the first place (SNAFUs sometimes are a good thing), so an exchange was technically possible. When he went to the PX the supply SGT behind the desk looked at them and said "those are in better condition that most of the ones out on the field. Sorry, no exchange"! DOH!

Steve