Let me preface this by saying that I am aware films aren’t the best place to learn about…well…anything accurately, but…
I was watching X2 whilst warming up for X3 the other day, and I saw some of the supposedly ‘elile’ soldiers that were storming the school and guarding the lake complex had ‘urban camouflage’ order, along with some shocking camo paint!
I’m sure the answer to this is going to be no, but I’m aware of the British and US’ respective militaries penchant for wasting money. I know (pretty sure) that we Brits dont use urban DPM, but does anyone military in the world? If so…why?
**Urban Camouflage **
*The US military does not currently have an official urban camouflage uniform. The 21st Century soldier will face battlefield challenges that are more complex and greater in number than ever before. One of the greatest challenges is to conduct Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT). The technical challenges in developing effective urban camouflage are many. *
From here.
A few third rate armies/police forces do, at least in some of the pictures i’ve seen of Serbians and Jordanians. That probably says something about its’ practicality.
Does American Urban Camo have angular letters apparently spray-painted across the back in fluoescent colors? That’s all I can think of. That and that Mad magazine articvle about animals adapting o urban environments by evolving to look like used gum wrappers and cracks in windows and the like.
“Urban camo” could be said to be colored as to evoke concrete and asphalt, but really it’s only “urban” in that it doesn’t blend with natural landscape, which was the traditional use of military camo. There being no hope of “blending”, the alternation of black/blues/greys would be of use in shape-disruption, which is another use of camo (sort of “dazzle paint” for the individual), but it probably is more useful in making the point that this unit is not going to fight in deserts and forests.
I would guess that with the advent of the CADPAT and derivative (such as MARPAT and ACU) “digi-camo” patterns, we will soon see other variations for police forces. (Then again, lately I’ve seen some proposals for Navy/Air Force utilities that look appallingly like “Urban Camo”)