Scorpion W2
Scorpion W2 or Operational Camouflage Pattern (OCP) is a camouflage pattern of the United States Army , which is to serve as the future main camouflage pattern of the armed forces from mid-2015. It is intended to replace both the previously introduced Universal Camouflage Pattern as the official uniform pattern for most US soldiers and the very similar MultiCam , which was used for troops in Afghanistan.
development
The original Scorpion pattern was developed by Crye Precision as part of the Objective Force Warrior program in the 2000s. The W2 variant was finally modified by Army Natick Labs based on the original sample. In July 2014, the US Army announced that OCP could be used in the field from summer 2015 and would be available to soldiers from around this time. The new pattern is approved for use in garrisons, training, and home bases. However, it has not yet been announced whether or when the design would also be released for commercial acquisition.
In the course of the determination by the US Army that the previous UCP was not suitable as an optimal camouflage pattern for a single environment, it was decided, under pressure from the US Congress, that a new pattern should be developed that met the requirements. In 2010 there were finally 22 possible candidates to choose from. As a result, all but five samples that were superior to the conventional samples were eliminated until the final evaluation, including the Scorpion W2, which was available as an internal candidate for the Army alongside four commercial samples. The finalists included Crye Precision , ADS Inc. , Hyperstealth Inc. , Brookwood Companies Inc. and Kryptek Inc. In 2014 the Defense Authorization Act prevented some of the armed forces from adopting a new camouflage pattern that was not already in the inventory before this decision had been integrated unless all the other forces adopted the same pattern. For this reason, the Army was forced to select existing models from the Department of Defense. Originally, the first choice fell on the MultiCam from Crye Precision, but negotiations were ended again due to disagreements about printing fees. The original Scorpion pattern was developed by Crye in 2002 as part of a government contract and was modified by the Army Natick Labs in 2009 and completed as the Scorpion W2 . The Army holds the licensing rights for Scorpion W2, which has resulted in a cost reduction and the ability to restrict the pattern to members of the Army only.
The US Air Force will equip its personnel with OCP uniforms for missions accompanied by Army personnel. However, the OCP will not replace the Airman Battle Uniform pattern , which will continue to be in use. This decision was made on the basis of the previous Air Force decision to adopt their own digital camouflage pattern after the UCP was introduced by the Army in 2004.
variants
No other color variants of the Scorpion W2 have yet been announced. However, if the Army should decide to do so, then the use or modification of the woodland and desert version of the Scorpion W2, which was created by Natick in 2009, should be considered. However, a number of OCP-based patterns for other uniforms have already been announced, including a dark jungle woodland variant and a lighter pattern for desert environments.