Home > Kit & Camo > New French Army Special Forces Camo

New French Army Special Forces Camo

The new French Special Forces camo is worn by 1er RPIMa [© Bob Morrison]

France’s Army Special Forces Command has recently adopted a new operational camouflage pattern as a successor to Crye MultiCam, writes Bob Morrison.

~

For several years operationally deployed French Army Special Forces Command (Commandement des Forces Spéciales Terre or COM FST) personnel in Africa and the Middle East have mostly worn Crye MultiCam combat uniforms, but recently a new subdued camouflage pattern has been issued to some units. At the recent SOFINS 2019 conference and expo, held at the Camp de Souge Special Forces base near Bordeaux, a large number of operators, mostly from 1er RPIMa, were wearing this new camo and naturally we seized the opportunity to photograph them.

The HALO jumper in the centre of this shot wears the new SF camo [© Bob Morrison]

As will be seen when our coverage of the dynamic display at SOFINS 19 unfolds over future features, not all Special Forces personnel were wearing the new camo pattern, which we understand is being gradually being rolled out by unit, and indeed it is highly likely that both MultiCam and standard Central Europe pattern uniforms will be worn for specific deployments &/or theatres where operationally desirable. It is also likely that some MultiCam equipment will be worn with the new uniform as the two patterns are reasonably compatible.

French operator wearing UBACS and Combat Trousers in the new SF camo pattern [© Bob Morrison]

At first glance the new French Special Forces pattern – no officers or NCOs that we discussed it with could, or wished to, give us a specific name for it – appears to be very faded MultiCam, and indeed it was quite hard to differentiate it from some sun-bleached older kit we saw being worn with it, but close inspection reveals that the new pattern has none of the vertical ‘twiglets’ found on commercial MultiCam. My gut reaction is that this predominantly horizontal pattern, which French military personnel assured me was developed by Crye Precision specifically for COM FST, may possibly be a colour variation of Crye’s Scorpion W2 pattern used for the latest US Army OCP (Operational Camouflage Pattern) uniform, but until we can compare large areas of the two fabrics side by side for design similarities this is purely conjecture on my part.

One other small point of note, the new French SF uniform is made from a rip-stop fabric which reminded me of the cloth used for some of the new generation Italian combat uniforms.

[ images © Bob Morrison ]

Close-up of the back of a combat smock taken in bright overcast light conditions with contrast tweaked slightly to bring out the different shades [© Bob Morrison]
Upper back panel of a combat smock – although from the same family as MultiCam the new subdued pattern is devoid of vertical ‘twiglet’ shapes [© Bob Morrison]
New subdued camo pattern trousers (left) alongside earlier Crye MultiCam trousers [© Bob Morrison]
Posed comparison shot of standard French Central Europe camo and the new subdued French SF pattern in bright overcast natural light [© Bob Morrison]
You may also like
Kraken Forms Partnership With Auterion
UK Land Rover Spares for Lebanese Army
King Willem-Alexander visited Op INTERFLEX in UK
UVision USA and SAIC to Collaborate on Loitering Munitions