Strykers Adopt Desert Tan Color

[Praetori]

Praetori,

Far superior 'flage job, and man, is that AFV fast!

Wicky,

Nice find! First I've heard of it.

Regards,

John Kettler

Yeah. It's a CV9040 Swedish built AFV by Hägglunds. It's a pretty solid modern AFV with a 40mm AC (basically the old Bofors AA gun turned upside down, gyrostabbed and with computer programmable ammunition).

I have hopes of seing (or modding them in) in a Afghanistan mod for CMX2 as the swedish forces use them there.

Tanned 9040C

[John Kettler]

Praetori,

I've been up all night, so please forgive the bleary eyes, but are those AFVs also covered with nets? Looks like they are because of apparent texture, but I can't focus finely enough to determine this for myself. I did note, though, the thermal jacket on the guns, a first, in my experience, for an IFV. That tells me a lot about the fire control system on the CV 9040, since only a really good one would make such a jacket worthwhile.

Regards,

John Kettler

[flamingknives]

Praetori,

I've been up all night, so please forgive the bleary eyes, but are those AFVs also covered with nets? Looks like they are because of apparent texture, but I can't focus finely enough to determine this for myself.

SAAB Barracuda, at a rough guess.

I did note, though, the thermal jacket on the guns, a first, in my experience, for an IFV. That tells me a lot about the fire control system on the CV 9040, since only a really good one would make such a jacket worthwhile.

Well, you need it with only 24 ready rounds.

[Praetori]

Praetori,

I've been up all night, so please forgive the bleary eyes, but are those AFVs also covered with nets? Looks like they are because of apparent texture, but I can't focus finely enough to determine this for myself. I did note, though, the thermal jacket on the guns, a first, in my experience, for an IFV. That tells me a lot about the fire control system on the CV 9040, since only a really good one would make such a jacket worthwhile.

Regards,

John Kettler

OT:

It's the Swedish army we're talking about there. Protecting the equipment is something of an obsession . Some of the army vehicles look brand new even after years of service (the budget doesn't leave much other options).

The sights are rather nice cooled thermal optics from Celsius-Tech if I'm not mistaken (though I'm unsure about the details).

It's covered with netting alright. I'm actually not certain as to why (I haven't seen it often on the tanned ones). There's some good thermal blocking nets but I'm unaware if they're available in desert 'flage.

I believe that the picture is taken in the US during a joint exercise (the vehicles used in Afghanistan is somewhat different).

Flamingkives is right about the ammo though.

24 ready to fire in the mags. But 232 total (though reloading takes a few agonizing minutes).

Crew is: Chief, Gunner, Driver and it's designed to transport 8xinf in the back (though for emergency crew evac reasons they've removed the 8th seat. MechInf squads of 6 (with an additional combat leader or medic) is the usual load in the "playground" :cool:

Protection on the 9040c should stop 30mm AP sabot but I wouldn't want to sit in one for a "live test".

[BlackSwan]

Clavicula_Nox,

You might get your wish They are testing a new uniform at the start of this year. Dunno if they are going to change the lightweight ripstop or not.

All I know is that these wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have made my uniform collecting hobby VERY expensive. Even the minor nations have been through 2-3 iterations of uniforms since the start, despite having perhaps as few as 50 soldiers in theater at a time!

Steve

Do you have any Turkish Army camo in your collection, Steve?

[gautrek]

It doesn't matter what colour they paint the Strykers.

The still look s***.

Or maybe they should paint them in that digital camo so they don't blend in anywhere.Plus that will make them look even more s*** than they do now.

[Mord]

Dude, I wish they would get rid of the damn ACUs. I long for the days of BDUs/DCUs.

I actually liked the jackets (thinking about getting some)...pants and coat I didn't. I thought the pants were VERY poorly made...at least what I was issued. They didn't hold up very well.

Mord.

[Clavicula_Nox]

I actually liked the jackets (thinking about getting some)...pants and coat I didn't. I thought the pants were VERY poorly made...at least what I was issued. They didn't hold up very well.

Mord.

Neither did mine. The first time I ever wore the uniform was for a jump. The crotch tore out as soon as I PLF'd. I "go commando" in the field, so that was a very interesting time.

Gortex, as always, is good. The newer cold weather coat they have is pretty cool, but I was never issued one.

[SD Smack]

Don't worry ADO will deliver it to you after you get back from deployment......

Steve-o

[Clavicula_Nox]

Don't worry ADO will deliver it to you after you get back from deployment......

Steve-o

Naw, I missed out.

Although, the first time I went, we were issued a bunch of Northface style clothing, and then told we weren't allowed to wear them once we deployed. That was awesome. Then they said we couldn't wear the Gortex they issued to us in-country and that we couldn't wear the Field Jackets that were issued to us pre-deployment at RFI. But we still had to carry it and it was considered inspectable.

[ChrisND]

Naw, I missed out.

Although, the first time I went, we were issued a bunch of Northface style clothing, and then told we weren't allowed to wear them once we deployed. That was awesome. Then they said we couldn't wear the Gortex they issued to us in-country and that we couldn't wear the Field Jackets that were issued to us pre-deployment at RFI. But we still had to carry it and it was considered inspectable.

Hah! They did the same thing with the Northface stuff to us. "Luckily" we spent our entire deployment out on a remote FOB and got to wear whatever the hell we wanted.

[SD Smack]

Never fully understood why we get all this stuff that we never get to wear.

[Clavicula_Nox]

Hah! They did the same thing with the Northface stuff to us. "Luckily" we spent our entire deployment out on a remote FOB and got to wear whatever the hell we wanted.

My first deployment was spent attached to the Guard. They most certainly did not care what uniform I wore. Afghanistan was after jumping the fence, and we were in the mountains anyways, so who cared. Iraq x2 was strange. The cameras were still in Iraq, at the time, and the Surge was new, so we were supposed to look totally professional. It was lame. Time to go after that.

[Mord]

Neither did mine. The first time I ever wore the uniform was for a jump. The crotch tore out as soon as I PLF'd. I "go commando" in the field, so that was a very interesting time.

The DS's were constantly saying "Remember Privates, everything you're issued is made by the lowest bidder." I never ripped anything (lot of other guys did), but the buttons were always threatening to fall off even on the pairs that didn't see any major use.

So, I was like man, if this stuff can't handle what we're doing here how's it gonna hold up in a combat zone. Seemed/s to me that most clothing by LL Bean, Cabela's, Carhart or Columbia would outmatch/last the Army clothing any day of the week.

Never fully understood why we get all this stuff that we never get to wear.

Now, see, I thought that was just something they did in Basic to screw with us. I guess it keeps on keepin' on. LOL. Bastards gave us all that polypro and crap and wouldn't let us wear it! I HATE being cold.

Mord.

[Battlefront.com]

Yeah, I know about the UCP-D vs Multicam tests. What I don't understand is how they're even justifying the test. UCP-D looks like someone took the regular UCP and randomly smeared dog **** over it. It looks -ok- on a swatch, but the whole uniform looks terrible. It's actually worse, in my opinion, than regular UCP. I say go with Multicam. ****, go with tan jumpsuits for all I care, they'd still be better than what they have now!

Yup, Multicam would be a much better replacement. A tougher ripstop fabric would also be a big improvement, along with a smooth cotton version for temperate deployments. Just like the old days

Do you have any Turkish Army camo in your collection, Steve?

I think I have eight distinct patterns in my collection, though for sure I don't have a sample of everything. I haven't yet plunked down cash for the current digital camo stuff, even though it's damned nice looking.

Steve

[SD Smack]

hehe...I guess the biggest example of this is the various uniform accessories.....you can't wear the PC unless you are in the field (cause the beret is sooooo useful), can't wear A2CUs unless you are conducting aviation operations, etc. As for the poly pros, I had them issued too but I don't think I have ever worn them. They seem to me that the just don't breath well enough, but then I sweat when I snowboard so I tend to go for layers.

But hey that's just me!

[Mord]

LOL I would've preferred plain old long johns...we just did a lot of standing around in the cold and I kept thinking about how nice those polies would be...probably half the reason I couldn't kick the pneumonia...and when I did get to wear them, once I was removed from training, they didn't do much for me anyhow. It was the point though, here's all this stuff, but you can't wear it!

Steve, are there any sites that show Syrian camo? I can't find any.

Mord.

[SSG Grymm]

SSG Grymm,

If you like breaking up the silhouette and hiding the paint, then you're going to love this.

I know this is going to sound wierd but I've never been a fan of that much natural camo. It dies off quickly and starts to stand out more than blend in. I used cut up(love Class 9 items) camo netting, large cut sheets of burlap and some natural veg mixed in. I'll try to dig out some pics of my Bradley while training out in the desert at Ft Bliss. It was very hard to make out in the dunes from anything less than 500m and if we moved slow enough and watched our dust trails we almost(I say almost) sneak up on the OPFOR tankers in a 10+' Bradley.

I never had to wear ACU's, my time was done before they went service wide, but my son is now in basic and he seems to think they have pros and cons. The basic complaint I hear is the material sucks, for some reason it sounds like its worse than the old rip stop BDU's(which I only kept 1 pair and they were heavily starched). They seem to blend in okay in the pics I've seen, once they've been worn and washed a few times, but thats only from pictures. The biggest draw back I can think of if velco pockets. The idea of that makes me cringe, I can hear the pockets opening now to get a MRE left over while in the OP. Velco always made me shutter, it was loud to open and eventually it quit holding whatever it was shut. But I guess thats the recon in me coming out.

[Sandokan]

About Syrian camo there was a thread with some pictures last month, but really I don't remember the title.

Ah, on the matter "breaking the silouette". I remember when I was in the Army we used camouflaged nets with fabric patches simulating trees in order to hide static objects. In that case a radio truck. Now, me and another guy start covering the truck with this stuff, connect it with a nearby tree and add some metal ribs underneath in order to look the silouette less apparent. At the end of the work we were quite satisfied. Sarge comes, take a look at the whole thing and says: "Nice job guys, but there is a mistake. Look at the net on the right". It had the tree shaped patch upside down. How embarrassing...

[Clavicula_Nox]

I know this is going to sound wierd but I've never been a fan of that much natural camo. It dies off quickly and starts to stand out more than blend in. I used cut up(love Class 9 items) camo netting, large cut sheets of burlap and some natural veg mixed in. I'll try to dig out some pics of my Bradley while training out in the desert at Ft Bliss. It was very hard to make out in the dunes from anything less than 500m and if we moved slow enough and watched our dust trails we almost(I say almost) sneak up on the OPFOR tankers in a 10+' Bradley.

I never had to wear ACU's, my time was done before they went service wide, but my son is now in basic and he seems to think they have pros and cons. The basic complaint I hear is the material sucks, for some reason it sounds like its worse than the old rip stop BDU's(which I only kept 1 pair and they were heavily starched). They seem to blend in okay in the pics I've seen, once they've been worn and washed a few times, but thats only from pictures. The biggest draw back I can think of if velco pockets. The idea of that makes me cringe, I can hear the pockets opening now to get a MRE left over while in the OP. Velco always made me shutter, it was loud to open and eventually it quit holding whatever it was shut. But I guess thats the recon in me coming out.

Yeah, the ACU includes two things that the Army does really well: Zippers and Velcro. The uniforms themselves are billed as having a "6-month lifespan", but my experience with them was that they could only get 6 months if you rotated 4 or more sets, and did nothing but hang out in the Ops Room all day. The whole thing was sold as being a massive "cost saving" venture for the soldier because nothing had to be sewn on, but the uniform is twice the cost of a set of BDUs, wears out very very quickly, and so on and so forth. Velcro for the insignia is an okay idea because it's easy to make your uniform sterile, or add significant information (IE: blood type). I just didn't like the uniform. I thought it was a poor idea, and when they kept saying "It was picked by X amount of soldiers, blah blah blah." I kept wondering what their alternatives were.

[LuckyStrike]

Let's face it. this was obviously done so modders had another paint job to work on. And with that thought, lets start a letter writing campaign to the DOD for them to adopt a German WWII ambush pattern for all AFVs.

Now we are talking!

[Battlefront.com]

Clavicula_Nox,

I thought it was a poor idea, and when they kept saying "It was picked by X amount of soldiers, blah blah blah." I kept wondering what their alternatives were.

The Army did an extensive trial of something like two dozen patterns in one of three groups; temperate, desert, urban. The patterns were quite varied, mostly coming from Natick Lab's own designs. However, Multicam was one of the trial patterns (this was before it was commercially available). Existing US Woodland and DCU were tested, along with MARPAT, as controls. They also evaluated some other existing patterns during the initial design process.

The end result was that ACUPAT came out of nowhere. As far as I can tell there has never been an official explanation as to where this pattern came from. The only thing I came up with is that Army Times did a survey of its readers and the overwhelming majority chose MARPAT as their favorite pattern, even though it was never in the running as a replacement pattern. Likewise, there is no official explanation of how the Army went from three possible types of uniforms down to a "universal" pattern. The Marines, on the other hand, explained not pursuing the Urban MARPAT because they didn't feel the costs of a third uniform wasn't worth it considering the major logistics problems an urban specific uniform brings with it.

The Army apparently tested 1400 uniforms this past summer with a non-ripstop cloth due to the recognition that the current cloth isn't holding up as well as it was supposed to. I have not heard anything about the results of that test.

The uniform construction itself was tested in Iraq by the first Stryker Brigade to be deployed there. The second Stryker Brigade that was sent over had a slightly modified version of the test uniform, which is almost identical to the actual production ACU. There were concerns about velcro raised at the time, however the argument was that the uniform would wear out before the velcro did and therefore wasn't a big deal. The velcro closures on pockets, on the other hand, were identified as a noise discipline violation. Production costs, however, dictated that velcro be used.

And there ends that little bit of trivia for today

Mord, did you mean Syrian or Turkish? I don't know of any good links to either off the top of my head. The bulk of the uniforms of both countries are based on US Woodland camouflage patterns. The one being worn by CM:SF's Syrian guys is based on an example in my collection which is no longer current issue AFAIK. The newer issue one is a bit brighter and has a different cut. Since the game came out I got myself one of those

Steve

[Clavicula_Nox]

Well, they are right. The uniform does wear out long before the velcro does, I will give them that.

[Mord]

About Syrian camo there was a thread with some pictures last month, but really I don't remember the title.

I saw that...the one with the link about the Libyan Uni being Syrian? Or some such?

Mord, did you mean Syrian or Turkish? I don't know of any good links to either off the top of my head. The bulk of the uniforms of both countries are based on US Woodland camouflage patterns. The one being worn by CM:SF's Syrian guys is based on an example in my collection which is no longer current issue AFAIK. The newer issue one is a bit brighter and has a different cut. Since the game came out I got myself one of those

Steve

Syrian. I found a bunch of sites with World camo patterns but none had anything about Syria.

I love that pattern in the other thread that we are talking about in the quote above yours. Very cool.

Mord.

[LukeFF]

hehe...I guess the biggest example of this is the various uniform accessories.....you can't wear the PC unless you are in the field (cause the beret is sooooo useful), can't wear A2CUs unless you are conducting aviation operations, etc. As for the poly pros, I had them issued too but I don't think I have ever worn them. They seem to me that the just don't breath well enough, but then I sweat when I snowboard so I tend to go for layers.

But hey that's just me!

I always hated the poly pros, as they seemed just too bulky and hot for my tastes. Now, the black silk long underwear they issued at RFI in Iraq, that stuff is really good! Keeps me plenty warm without being too thick or bulky. I'll wear it in the winter months, when I go skiing.

As for the PC, we wore it all the time when I was doing my National Guard time, whether in the field at home station.