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The Italian four-colour desert camouflage pattern was developed with the use of computers but cannot be called 'digital', in the same way that CADPAT™ AR and desert MARPAT™ are digital, inasmuch as it is not pixelated. [Image: ISAF.]

Motivo mimetico desertico Italiano
Italian Republic

From 1945 to 1990, the peace-keeping function was, with very few exceptions, the sole and direct responsibility of the United Nations (UN). The UN would attempt to defuse conflicts and crises by deploying observers and lightly-armed military units into the field. In the Cold War era, however, these UN forces typically had only very limited mandates and were subject to severe restrictions.

When the stalemate between Eastern and Western nations was broken, in the late 1980s, the UN was finally able to act more directly, to resolve international conflicts. Moreover other agencies, such as the European Union (EU) and NATO, became important — and sometimes critical — participants in the preservation of regional stability.

As the threat posed by regional instability has assumed new forms and aspects, the international community has been obliged to devise measures equal to meet this threat. Thus, should unarmed observers and lightly-armed forces prove insufficient to ensure peaceful negotiations between opponents, heavily-equipped forces can be deployed, to persuade warring factions to solve their problems through means other than direct confrontation.

The peace-keeping missions undertaken by the Italian Army during the last decade of the 20th Century demonstrate the ways in which a modern military organisation can rapidly and effectively adapt to the new situations and requirements that presently challenge the international community. This Italian 4-colour desert camouflage was presented to the public during the ITA Army Day celebrations on 4 May 2004. It was first issued to Italian Army units operating in Iraq and has since been distributed to Italian Army units operating in Afghanistan.

This camouflage pattern comprises small, ragged yellowish grey, light greyish yellowish brown, light brown and greyish yellowish brown elements. Its finely-textured appearance in photographs has led many to misidentify Motivo mimetico desertico Italiano ('Italian desert camouflage pattern') as a digital camouflage pattern, and some have disparaged it as evidence that Italy has jumped onto the digital camouflage bandwagon. However, its detractors obviously are seeing digital camouflage where none exists.

kamouflage.net is grateful to Federico Sini and Lawrence Holsworth, for their invaluable contributions to this article.

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