Chinese troops to wear “digital camouflage” uniforms

 
Chinese peacekeepers prepare to depart for their United Nations mission to Sudan from an airport in Zhengzhou, central Chinas Henan province, in this Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2007 file photo. One-hunderd thirty-five officers and soldiers will form China’s second batch of peacekeepers sent to Sudan to replace an earlier team sent last May. France’s foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, said Wednesday Aug. 1, 2007 his country has offered to send troops to the joint United Nations-African Union mission in Darfur. The U.N. Security Council approved the 26,000-strong peacekeeping force in the troubled Sudanese region on Tuesday. The goal of the force, which will replace the beleaguered 7,000-strong African Union force on the ground no later than Dec. 31., is to try to end more than four years of fighting in Darfur during which more than 200,000 people have died.(AP Photo/EyePress)

Deccan Herald | Jul 3, 2007

Designers of the world’s largest military have unveiled a new line of digital camouflage uniforms that will make Chinese troops less visible to others.

Labelled as “digital camouflage”, the new training fatigues sport computer-generated camouflage patterns which, their creators say, are designed to simulate natural environments.

“The camouflage pattern resembles a big bunch of flowers from a distance and crushed gravel from close up,” said senior engineer Zhang Xudong with the Quartermaster Equipment Institute (QEI).

The previous camouflage patterns worn by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) training outfits were hand-painted, accentuating the sharp contrast between different colours.

“With the application of pixel-matrix technology, the camouflage functions better as it blurs the divide between different colours,” Zhang said, adding a special dye was also used to maximise the camouflage effect.

“The digital camouflage pattern can escape the naked eye and counter-reconnaissance in low light and certain wave bands of infrared,” he said.

Upon the completion of the PLA’s largest ever uniform upgradation due in 2009, four different camouflage schemes for urban, wood land, desert and ocean environments will be used. The camouflage scheme for woodland can also be blended into urban environment, the report said.

The wear resistance of the new fatigues has quintupled from the previous 140 times to 700 times. The fatigues are complete with training boots which are fire-and-puncture-proof and 100 grams lighter.

President of the QEI, Yang Tingxin said much more protective combat uniforms has already been developed and would be deployed at the “right time”.

The uniform upgrade is expected to be completed in three years and cost six billion yuan (USD 789). The 2.3 million PLA personnel will start getting the newly designed uniforms from August 1, the 80th founding anniversary of the PLA.

The Chinese troops in Hong Kong took the lead and donned the new outfits on July 1 to mark the 10th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to China.