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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.]

TNI-AU DPM
Republic of Indonesia

Uniforms camouflaged in British Disruptive Pattern Material (DPM) have been in use since 1969.

The DPM used for the British Pattern 1968 battle dress uniform featured a four-colour woodland camouflage pattern, composed of broad black, earth brown and medium green 'brush-strokes' on a light khaki background. Minor variations aside, this woodland DPM has remained practically unchanged for almost 40 years.

Prior to to the advent of CADPAT™ (TW), British DPM was usually the winner, in personal concealment competitions. Due to its success as a camouflage pattern, many countries — such as the Republic of Kenya, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the Sultanate of Oman — have adopted versions of the design that typically vary only in colour.

Other countries — including Indonesia — have produced and issued near-copies of British DPM.

Since 1986, a general 4-colour DPM pattern has been issued to all military branches of the Tentara Nasional Indonesia ('Indonesian Armed Forces', TNI). However, minor variations apparent between the camouflage patterns issued to different branches of the TNI suggest that some subtle distinctions might exist between the DPM versions issued to different services.

This version, which is issued to the TNI-AU (Indonesian Air Force), comprises broad black, earth brown and bright medium green 'brush-strokes' on a light khaki background and differs only slightly from British 4-colour DPM. The most significant differences are the absence of dots, around the edges of the shapes, and locally-introduced variations in the shapes and colours used.

kamouflage.net is grateful to Eric H. Larson and Indra Purnama, for their invaluable contributions to this article.

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