Before deploying in 2010, I did some research looking for a uniform with an effective desert pattern. ACU’s just don’t cut it, as the Army has had to reluctantly admit only after Congressional intervention. The Marines have a pretty decent desert uniform but wearing that might constitute perpetrating a fraud in the eyes of a Marine (I was Army) so I ordered a few uniforms from Hyperstealth Biotechnology Corp.
The uniform is from their SPEC4CE series and is called Desert Dune. The cut is similar to the ACU and other modern US military uniforms with pockets on the sleeves and ankles. One noticeable difference is the lack of velcro, most of it being replaced with old school buttons. The pattern itself is a four color digital type which worked very well out in the hinterlands.
The lightweight fabric used was MUCH appreciated come summer time in Iraq. This uniform was much more comfortable then ACU’s, DCU’s, and a Multicam uniform I had from Propper. The trade off is that the lightweight fabric is more prone to rips and tears. In the Iraqi summer heat I was happy to accept that and engage in a little Suzy homemaker stitching post-mission when needed.
I would wholeheartedly recommend this uniform to soldiers currently deploying overseas if they can manage to get their hands on it. Hyperstealth does limited commercial runs but it is certainly worth looking into.
{ 56 comments… read them below or add one }
I think it still looks too gray; if I was going for that color of camo, I'd rather take UCP…..
I can see your point on the greyness, though it'd be nice to have more example photos. You wouldn't be worried about the lack of contrast and absence of larger patterning in UCP?
UCP was adequate in most plain desert areas, which is part of why the outrage about it didn't come until our troops began to use it extensively in Afghanistan, which has alot of mixed environments. Just from this pick, I don't see how this is any better that UCP for anything beyond a concrete gray or tan desert environment…..
I agree, it still looks too grey. I also wonder how well it would do out in the sand or sandy & rocky terrain because UCP works great in gravel pits too but nowhere else outside of a floral couch.
This should help out those of you who would like a closer look at the pattern and color scheme:
http://www.hyperstealth.com/spec4ce/Spec4ce-Deser…
I can't believe this website it has to be a gag I was in the Corp in '67 we had green fatigues you people are actually fighting over uniform colors
No man, we are debating and sharing our thoughts about why it's so damn difficult to choose a freaking uniform. It's not brain surgery like they are treating it.
I don't even know why we switched uniforms.. Lets just take a page from the IDF, they use a single colour uniform and they have been using. As far as I know, they have no plans to change it. Constantly changing the uniform is a waste of time, money and other resources.
At least the Marines got the uniform "style" right. A lot like the old jungle fatigues. Loved those things.
Any DCU and MARPAT Dessert was better than that horrible ACU grey pattern. Same for woodland camo.
Well at least it works in snow though right?
I wore DCU in Afghanistan and Iraq. I wore it by choice, and so did most of my teammates. We felt it was actually pretty effective, however I think most guys agreed, something better had to exist. On that note, I think the Hyperstealth pattern in the pic looks pretty good. It looks better than the DCU. I still think OCP is the way to go for Afghanistan. The science that went into OCP really shows when you see pics of entire squads that are all but completely hidden in the Afghan terrain.
Why does the Iraqi SWAT have an Special Forces pin on? Look right over his left front pocket.
Winning the hearts and minds!
I'm glad to see that Army SF is leaving a great impression on the Iraqi military. One that is sure to last for many generations.
The same reason I have a Afghani commando and a Royal Marine patch on my flak jacket.
And the same reason why I wore Iraqi Special Forces patches. The guy in the picture with me was an Iraqi Platoon Leader despite being an NCO, or maybe because of it, I'm not sure which. He was a great guy and I was really lucky to work with him.
Right on man.
Afghan, Afghani is the currency……pedantic I know!
Oh my gosh enough with the Camo articles please. There has got to be something else going on in the world besides a Camo debate. Look at how many articles have been posted recently, then look at how many camo articles have been posted. It's out of control. Everyone will wear what the brass says to wear anyways, so I don't really care. I'd like to know what happened to the hyper burst carbine trials. Or pretty much anything else. I can't be the only one thinking this.
Kitup is a blog about any type of material that can be used in the field. Camo, no matter how boring you think all this debate is, is still Kit.
For the Marines and soldiers who have to wear camo on a daily basis, and who's lives depend on its effectiveness, this subject is a HUGE deal.
As for the "hyper burst" trials you speak of, hate to disappoint you but none of the contenders for the Army's new gun are going to include it. There are only two guns in the world that have Hyper-Burst, one is an experimental case less German G11, the other is the Russian AN-94, which (unlike the AK) has a terrible reputation in reliability.
All of the manufacturers have balked at the hyper burst requirement, and even if a gun maker manages to pull off hyper-burst in such a short amount of time, it will be a terribly complicated system that will only increase the likely hood of failure. Thus it is either just a political ploy to give some of the Army brass and excuse to keep the "improved" M4A1 (and I type that with sarcasm), or something a bean counter read on the internet, thought was cool, and decided we needed to have that.
Retarded overcomplicated hyper burst = not important
Caseless ammo = important
Camoflauge = pretty important
oh ya new uniforms are the answer to less casualties. Will it ever end. How many more must die?
War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today.
War will exist as long as there are evil people……
No, war will exist as long as someone else disagrees with someone else.
No one ever goes to war over silly shit right? Like women, pigs, and ears?
I can't believe how much people obsess over the minutia of this or that pattern, when it is so obvious: NONE OF THIS IS FUNCTIONAL CAMOUFLAGE!
Does anybody have trouble making out the two guys in the above picture? If you do, please destroy your driver's licence and never again touch the wheel of an automobile. You'd have to be Ray Charles not to spot these guys from a 1000 m away.
I'm not pointing the finger at any particular pattern. Every combination of pattern and BDU I've ever seen has sucked. Even Tier 1 Special Forces guys wear horrible camo. In fact, their camo is often worst of all. They wear a huge conglomeration of equipment from 70 different manufacturers, all with different patterns and clashing colors.
If you want true concealment, the pattern has to match the background, the armor has to match the BDU, the belt has to match the sling, the rifle, the barrel, the magazine, the helmet, the skin, EVERYTHING, right down to the soldier's fingernails. All the seams and lines have to be broken up, to mask the obvious human figure. We're evolutionarily-optimized to make out human figures. At least try to make the Taliban's job a little difficult. After all, most of the combat in Afghanistan takes place at range, with most Taliban using their Mk 1 eyeballs.
Sorry for the rant, but I can't take any more of these camo articles. I can't believe that with our military budget, and with so many lives at stake, that nobody seems to get this.
No matter what pattern you're wearing, unless its a ghillie you're going to see him from 5 feet away posing for the camera.
Half of this is not about complete concealment: it is about having a unique uniform that screams "U.S. Military". That being said, the concealment part of it is simply what color of splotch you want to be against the environment. If you wear OD green, the Taliban are much more likely to see you coming than if you're wearing MARPAT or ATACS. No one seriously thinks you are going to "hide" without a ghille; but I think that a good camo will make it harder for the enemy to see you at 1000 m……
So you're saying: "Give up and make everyone wear Stormtrooper white?"
This is the most ridiculous, ignorant comment I've read yet. You are a fool. That is that.
I actually agree to some degree. I don't think it's a lost cause to camouflage yourself only partially, but I am amazed by how many camouflage patterns fixate on texture or coloration and don't actually break up the larger human form.
Effective, durable, comfortable, pratical, and well made is more important than looks. Hope these are manufactured in the USA.
Manufactured in China from Pakistani cotton.
I'd be happy to do a review of your product as well Dom.
You got it!
Has Kit-Up! started accepting paid-for advertorials?
Well, the site does have ad banners but to answer the question that you are trying to ask, this is my honest opinion of Hyperstealth's uniform. This review is unsolicited and not endorsed by Hyperstealth in anyway.
Too bad the "out of touch" civvies at Congress know how to make better tactical decisions, and had to tell the "warfighters" at the Army that their UCP sucks after many years and billions of dollars.
I understand that the Army was trying to find the shangri-la of one camo for all and reduce the logistical tail, reduce frill stuff like starching the uniform etc., but tell me again why the Army was too good for MARPAT which met all these specs?
Old school woodland BDU is even more effective at a distance than these bright gray splotches we see with the ACU.
Because MARPAT was copyrighted by the Marine Corps and actually has little EGA embedded in the pattern thereby making it a Marine pattern. I can kind of understand why they did that but I personally feel that it was probably a dumb move and this whole trend of every branch having to have their own unique pattern was largely a result of this branding. And for the record, this isn't Marine bashing, I'm a former Marine and proud of it but the branding of MARPATs was kind of a dumb move.
Its to grey have you seen our acu's or are you just color blind we dont have green uniforms anymore. About the easy to rip all the company has to do is re-inforce the areas that you need like the crotch, underarm, buttocks and the knee area so it wont rip so easyand they can keep it light weight in all the other areas. Its not like when we are deployed we dont get uniforms issued to us before we go or down range or free of internet through the Army.
Army, pic a cammie pattern for God's sake. The amount of spending on all this stupid-sh-t is downright woman-like. Like a girl in a shoe store. Camoflauge also doesn't really matter unless your dismounted and not riding in a convoy of f'ing trucks where you can be seen 3 miles away.
Simple answer for this.
Convoy gets hit, convoy does not work.
Congratulations! You are now dismounted infantry!
Do you want that camo now or do you enjoy being a solid color target?
Switch to olive green. :)
inter-branch BS keeps us from wearing what is actually most effective.. USMC has even gone so far as to embed their logo with in the pattern every few inches.. wheres the team effort..
Camouflage and the related gear is big business. This battlefield fashion parade is ridiculous. DOD needs to reign this in and get NADIC labs to develop a UNIFORM for ALL of DOD. Civilian businesses are driving this debacle and its stupid.
Thing is that most of these various camo patterns that you see featured and talked about here are privately developed and neither the DoD nor any branch of the military have anything to do with them. Part of the reason that you're seeing so many different kinds of camo patterns is because all of the private security contractors that you see running around Afghanistan who usually have the freedom to choose their own gear, Spec Ops types who get to wear and use just about damned near anything they want, and last but certainly not least is the Army program for replacing that God awful UCP with something more effective.
Holy crap people, who gives a crap! This stuff didn't make a damn bit of difference for me in my turret in the Stan. And for those who actually need camouflage have had plenty of training on how to do so or has invested in something that would better facilitate that depending on what theater you deploy to. Fricken homos, who cares what you look like when you shoot someone
@ afghan Mike not everyone can be a Marine, there is a tremendous "team effort" within the Corps and it reaches back to the oldest Marine Corps vets, if you joined the army that's on you maybe it is "all that you can be"
there is "issue" and there is "regulation" back in the day "crazy charlie's" in bien hoa made and sold "tiger stripe" BDU's that were very popular with SEALS and Green Berets.
That "face" camo looks great. Much better than the duds. LOL
This started in the mid 80's with the change to Woodland Camo BDU..they sucked in tropical,high temp climates due to a chemical on them that blocked the fabric,cotton/poly, from breathing, In any large formations,no less than half dozen troops would pass out. The OD green jungle fatigues were a great uniform, Fairly sturdy,light weight,and easy to care for,but each command had a policy for or against,and if it didnt SOP, it was out, Who cares about heat stroke? The Army got close with its pixilated camo,but of ocurse,the Marines have to take it as a competiton,and made their a shade lighter.Adding to the confusion. I suggest one unifom for all branches. Of various pattern and weight to suite the environment.OD green wont work in sand colered desert,which wont work in jungle,or forest environment, Hate the velcro,it wears out after so many pull offs. Hate the rank insignia on the neck line.The collars worked fine for over a century,Its military combat,not a fashion show. They need to standardize on unifrom,and be done with it,
That’s awesome! I can only see the two other guys in the picture, with you!
why only have one uniform color???
it's only cheaper if you buy one uniform instead of two
why not have three patterns? have woodland/jungle desert/grassland and a intermediate like multicam that you make flack jackets rucksacks and other items that you only get one of. that way you arnt too green/brown dark/light