Army officials announced OCP uniforms as a new camouflage pattern. It is internally known as Scorpion W2. It is named as Operational Camouflage Pattern. This is a new pattern replacing MultiCam that was acting as the original OCP. Now this works as the substitute of the universal camouflage pattern as the ACU official pattern.

The Air Force suit has relied over a decade on the UCP that was unpopular as the standard official pattern. The Air original pattern of Scorpion was an ‘Objective Force Warrior’ program developed over a decade. This program was developed by Crye Precision, and now the variant is modified by Army Natick Labs as Scorpion W2. It is the same as the MultiCam design and the pattern.

Army names OCP

The Army names OCP as the Operational Camouflage Pattern. This is done to highlight the use of the pattern that extends to all the commands to combat. This is a result of intensive camouflage research that has taken four years to complete this testing process and is more than anticipated.

The Army confirms that Scorpion W2 pattern testing provides exceptional concealment such that it enhances the force protection and soldier’s survivability directly.

The speculations regarding this selection started in May as the news came from Military.com. The Army Major Sgt did the briefing to senior sergeants. In fact, the Army Material Command head confirmed unofficially in 2014, 23 July that the Army adopted the variant W2 of Scorpion camouflage.

Operational Camouflage Pattern

The decision of the Army was to call OCP, Operational Camouflage Pattern, with a new name so that it sparks confusion with this announcement.

The OCP Scorpion uniform was available for soldiers first to buy on July 1, 2015. This new uniform is to be worn in the home station, training, and garrison. AAFES noticed a huge sale the same day that it sold 62,000 units that included socks, boots, trousers, coats, and T-shirts as new items.

The Air Force transition started on Oct. 1 of 2018. The OCP uniforms is now mandatory for the existing all the airmen, and the existing uniform will be discarded. However, a commercial license was acquired by a fabric mill for the OCP fabric, and there were several manufacturers making the approved pattern as the new construction of this uniform. It will be coming with other accessories. In Scorpion OCP, the first receiving approval of the uniform construction is the TacticalGear.com, the online retailer.

Availability of OCP Uniforms

The airmen can buy the same OCP uniforms from April 1, 2019, at AAFES stores. OCP will maintain inventory demand. The Air Force service members will get this uniform after October 2019 on AAFES online services.  

The coats and pants of the uniform are available for $12 more than the earlier price of $84. It now costs $96. However, the other uniform components, such as shirts, boots, caps, and socks, were available almost at the same price. The change of uniform from ACU to OCP is because the former ACU uniforms did not camouflage as required to protect in various environments, while the MultiCam used in Afghanistan performed a better job in safeguarding the soldiers.

About the OCP Uniform

The OCP uniform is mandatory for all active-duty soldiers. These uniforms are not being procured using government funds. Instead, it is being supported by unit leaders’ private funds.

The specification of the OCP uniforms is that there will be seven colors making up the OCP official pattern, such as cream 524, olive 527, tan 535, dark green 528, pale green 526, dark brown 530 and brown 529.

The cloth will have a base cream shade 524, and the other six colors will be printed over by screens or rollers. The OCP was known as Class 9 and 10, but the OCP new is known as Class 14. Right now, OCP is printed on cotton/nylon fabric.

OCP (Scorpion W2) uniforms emerged first in the military clothing stores from starting of 2015. The female versions were also available before the same year-end. However, it is expected that the new uniform transition period will extend up to October 2019.

These new uniforms implementation is into four tiers, and priority is Tier one.

• Tier One: Everything should go into the clothing bag (pants, coats, gloves, boots, gloves, etc.)
• Tier Two: All combat items purchased from the Rapid Fielding Initiative (RFI). This will include clothing items, helmets, and hydration systems.
• Tier Three and Four: Items like sleeping bags.