Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/861022
results of those works were: Battle Dress Uniform (BDU) in M81 Woodland camouflage and Desert Battle Dress Uniform (DBDU) in six color desert camouflage pattern commonly called "chocolate chip". Desert uniforms were issued to RDF units before the official adoption of BDU in 1981. new fABricS, new cAmoUflAGe PAttern As a part of BDS, it was decided that the uniforms would be made of more advanced fabrics. For years, the shortcomings of cotton sateen, cotton poplin rip-stop or poly and cotton blend had been observed. In the case of pure cotton, the problem lied in its poor resistance to abrasion and wash and the loss of color. The cotton with polyester had poor breathability and users overheated. But already in the 1960s, cold weather uniforms with durable 50/50 NYCO (50% Nylon 50% Cotton) fabric were available. A new, lighter 6.8 oz. NYCO Twill fabric was developed. It was intended to perform well in any climate zone in which the average daily temperature exceeds 4ºC. For lower temperatures, use of cold weather uniforms was recommended. The 50/50 NYCO fabric performs pretty well in a wide range of temperatures. It is soft and smooth- faced, does not get wrinkled easily, and, unless aggressively centrifuged, it does not have to be ironed. 50/50 NYCO does not result in excessive sweating or abrasions, does not stick to the user's body. What is more, it is durable, solid, and resistant to damage and pilling. Bearing in mind all of those advantages, it was assumed that single uniforms would be used in all of the places where a woodland camouflage is required. Initially, no further production of cotton rip-stop tropical uniforms was planned. In retrospect, however, it can be considered as a big mistake. New M81 Woodland camouflage Pattern was also developed by enlargement of ERDL camouflage pattern by a dozen per cent, change of the size of each of the element and removing the gradients between individual "blobs". Due to the fact that the individual shapes were larger, the complete pattern did not fit on a standard sheet. The colors were following – Green 354, Green 355, Brown 356, Black 357. The MIL-C-44031 specification allowed two technologies of dyeing. Certain tone exceptions were allowed as well. As a result, depending on the manufacturer, we have a situation in which there are differences in colors concerning particular batches of fabric and different texture printing manifesting itself not only through darker/brighter printing, but also through the accuracy of the print and base fabric visible through the texture. It is impossible to tell the production date on the basis of the appearance. An important property of the used dyes was the decrease of reflection of infrared. The material produced in the initial period had some issues with dyeing that revealed itself after multiple washing. Especially the black shapes had the tendency to change their color into dark blue. That problem was eliminated. However, it is impossible to clearly tell whether material is from the initial period or a later one until it has been washed multiple times.. UNIFORMS