 | ||
The Desert Night Camouflage pattern is a two-color grid camouflage pattern used by the United States military during the Gulf War. It was designed to aid soldiers in concealment from older generation enemy night vision devices (NVDs). The pattern is now considered obsolete due to the increase in capability of foreign night vision devices.
Contents
During the first Gulf War, clothing sets in this pattern were issued to US troops as an over-jacket (with a removable insulating liner) and over-pants, both being designed to be worn over the issued six-color Desert Battle Dress Uniform during nighttime operations.
No night-specific pattern has been created to replace this gear for nighttime use in a desert environment, as advancements in infrared reflectance technology in first the Desert Camouflage Uniform, and finally the Marine Corps Combat Utility Uniform and Army Combat Uniform have eliminated the need for a separate nighttime overgarment.
Criticism
During the Gulf War, one scout/sniper section of a Marine Corps battalion conducted a night test comparing the visibility of the desert night camouflage clothing with six-color desert uniforms and winter overwhites. The night camouflage clothing proved to be more visible than both the day desert uniforms and winter overwhites when viewed though an AN/PVS-5 night vision device.