I don't suppose anyone has read much about the British Army's (and eventually the rest of the British forces), PECOC programme, which will be replacing Combat Soldier 95 and the traditional DPM pattern sometime in the near to mid future?
Recent rumblings (mainly from an ARRSE member who is a member of the trials and development team) seem to indicate that it is actually both a very good equipment set and camouflage scheme, should the MoD pull their finger out and and field it in the way it is intended.
As for the specific camouflage pattern, a lot of pictures of different trials patterns have appeared online, though I believe a final version has yet to be settled on (though a Crye-like multicam seems likely). By all accounts it will likely retain the same general colour mix as DPM, but in a different pattern and ratio to obtain a better camouflage effect. The programme managers are pushing for retaining a desert pattern rather than going for an all-purpose camo.
Basic issue will also become more sensible. For example, the current issue of CS95 includes two identical DPM smocks. The PECOC equivalent proposes the issue of two externally identical smocks (to prevent infuriated RSMs, WOs, and other people of that nature), but which will have different properties with regard to warmth, etc, thus providing a greater range of capabilities.
Even more interesting are the tales of all the anciliary parts to the kit, and the rumours of what equipment will become core issue. On the table at the moment is a proposal to make some form of body armour part of every soldier's basic issue, as no-one deploys without it, and most training is conducted with it, although presently it tends to come from a central pool that is dished out on an as needed basis. Furthermore, the plan is to have additional kinds of body armour system available depending on role and theatre. Webbing will be updated, again with several setups available, though an improved version of the current belt kit is the main focus, given that it is very popular with troops and quite versatile. The intent is to issue several more pouches of varying types than you need, so you can tailor it to your needs. Bergens, daysacks, assault vests, helmets, eyewear, etc all fall under the programme, and the plan is to integrate all the equipment worn by soldiers, rather than the present mess of things introduced a bit at a time. Interestingly, rather than order items in one huge lump and be stuck issuing them from here to forever, PECOC equipment will be obtained in relatively small numbers, the idea being that as each run of kit nears its end, improvements can be easily integrated into the next version. This pretty much formalises the present system of operational kitting anyway - the squadron we took over from had slightly better stuff than those before them, we had slightly improved kit over them, and our successors had better gear than us. The idea is to explicitly build that assumption into the kitting system and thus get better kit all round.
The only downside, of course, is that all this good stuff has to be paid for, and someone will work out a way of cutting the budget, and thus the quality, somewhere.
Anyway, interesting proposal, the troops trialling the kit have been very favourable, and the project team has shown itself to be very willing to come round to units and show them the gear and gather opinions. If it works, it could well be a model of how to procure equipment. Worth keeping an eye on.
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