kamouflage.net camouflage data

Uncover your potential', indeed! Once you stop ogling the girl, though, you might notice that this Australian Special Air Service (SAS) recruiting poster shows Australian Disruptive Pattern Camouflage to very good effect. [Image courtesy Brad Turner collection.]

1981 3-TsV camouflage, green base
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

In 1981, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics introduced a new three-colour camouflage uniform (трёхцветная камуфлированная одежда, trans. tryokhtsvetnaya kamuflirovannaya odezhda, TTsKO) for use by the Soviet airborne forces (Russian: Воздушно-десантные войска, trans. Vozdushno-desantnyye voyska, VDV) and land forces (Russian: Сухопутные войска, trans. Sukhoputnyye voyska). The new combat uniform was unlike any previous Soviet camouflage design, comprising thick black-green and narrower, meandering brown elements on a lighter brown or green background.

The three-coloured camouflage (трёхцветный камуфляж, trans. tryokhtsvetnyy kamuflyazh, 3-Ts) was kept from the public eye until 1985, when it finally appeared in a military parade to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Great Patriotic War. According to some sources, the reason for this secrecy was that the 1981 3-Ts camouflage had been directly copied from examples of U.S. camouflage combat uniforms, which had been captured during the Vietnam War.

However, the 1981 3-Ts camouflage pattern cannot justly be called a 'direct' copy of the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Laboratory (ERDL) pattern. The only real similarity is the use of different background colours for different types of terrain.

Until recently, most collectors assumed that the different base colours of the 1981 3-Ts camouflage pattern were due to variations in manufacture. It is now apparent, however, that the green-based 3-Ts camouflage — shown here — was intended for use in forest environments, as was the so-called 'lime', or 'lowlands' ERDL pattern; while the brown-based 3-Ts was intended for use in mountainous and arid terrains, much like the 'brown', or 'highlands', ERDL pattern.

The 1981 TTsKO was initially issued to the VDV and Main Intelligence Directorate (Russian: Главное разведывательное управление, trans. Glavnoye Razvedivatel'noye Upravleniye, GRU) spetsnaz, and was later issued to the Sukhoputnyye voyska. In 1988, a variation of this pattern was also issued to the Soviet Naval Infantry (Russian: Морская пехота, trans. Morskaya pekhota). Other variations of this pattern were adopted by security forces of the Committee for State Security (Russian: Комитет государственной безопасности, trans. Komitet gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti, KGB) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Russian: Министерство внутренних дел, trans. Ministerstvo vnutrennikh del, MVD) in 1987 and 1988, while still other versions of the 1981 3-Ts camouflage have been worn by paramilitary and security forces since its introduction.

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