Natick officials would not release details of its pattern, but experts say it was likely from the Scorpion effort, a pattern developed by Crye Precision that was very similar to MultiCam. The pattern was too similar to one of the industry submissions, which scored higher in the initial evaluation, uniform officials said.
In March, the Army decided to drop the fifth finalist - which was a government pattern developed at Natick. Brookwood Companies, Inc of New York and Kryptek, Inc. In addition to Crye Precision, ADS, Inc., teamed with Hyperstealth, Inc., of Virginia Beach, Va. Many patterns were evaluated in Afghanistan, but MultiCam was the clear winner for the country's multi-terrain environment.Įarlier this year, the Army awarded contracts to four vendors to make camouflage-patterned material for uniforms and equipment as a result of Phase IV of the service's camouflage improvement effort. Murtha died in 2010, but his directive prompted the Army to launch a multi-phase camouflage effort. John Murtha, who was then chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, got involved in camouflage issue. Murtha pushed the service to look for a better camouflage pattern after receiving complaints from sergeants about the UCP's poor performance in the war zone. Then in June 2009, Pennsylvania's Democratic Rep. In fact, two Natick studies – one completed in 2009 and the other in 2006, showed that MultiCam outperformed UCP in multiple environments. "Obviously, we are very concerned about this."īut criticism of the UCP is nothing new.
"This is the first time I have seen or heard that," said one staffer in the office of Senate Armed Service Committee Chairman Sen. It was the first time Natick officials have publically pointed the finger at PEO Soldier and Army leaders, charging that UCP cost taxpayers billions in uniforms and matching body armor, backpacks and other equipment.Ĭongressional officials said they were surprised to see Natick scientists quoted directly questioning the Army's decision to adopt the pattern. The second option would be to make MultiCam the service's pattern for garrison and general deployment use, but also to have a family of approved camouflage patterns that could be issued for specific areas of the world.Įarlier this week, UCP came under fire again in a story by The Daily, an online news site, which quoted several Army scientists from Natick Soldier Systems Center, Mass., alleging that the Army selected UCP long before testing was complete. One option would be to make MultiCam the Army's official camouflage pattern, sources tell. But officials running the camouflage effort are now looking at two options to recommend to the service's senior leadership this fall.
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