While out in Cairo for EDEX 2025 I took the opportunity to snap Egyptian M2011 Tricolour Desert (aka Coffee Stain) camouflage pattern, writes Bob Morrison.
~
Introduced around 2011, at the time of Egypt’s 25 January Revolution during the period of wider regional instability known as the ‘Arab Spring’, the primary camouflage pattern worn today by the Egyptian Army is a variation on the US Army three-colour desert pattern nicknamed ‘Coffee Stain’.
US ‘Coffee Stain’ camo (see further down) was conceived for arid theatre deployments at the end of the 1980s as an alternative to the six-colour ‘Choc Chip’ desert pattern which, though conceived for and quite effective in the Mojave Desert where the NTC (National Training Center) is located, proved ineffective in sand deserts of North Africa and the Middle East. This then new three-colour US pattern was rushed into service for the 1991 liberation of Kuwait (Operation DESERT SWORD / SABER) but not quite fast enough to equip more than a very small proportion of the American troops who participated in the 100-hour land offensive. This camo only saw comparatively limited US Army service before being replaced by digital or pixelated patterns early in the new millennium.
[© Bob Morrison]
The Egyptian version, while visually very similar to the American original, is locally produced to a slightly different pattern design and the colour palette of khaki secondary and dark brown tertiary shapes on a pinkish sand base is slightly different. I noticed some colour differences between Egyptian uniforms which did not strike me as being purely the result of overexposure to bright sunlight or repeated washing, but this is only to be expected when an army needs to smartly clothe the best part of two-thirds of a million Regular and Reservist troops. At EDEX25 we were informed that over the last five years there has been a concerted drive, by ENCID the Egyptian National Company For Industrial Development, to locally produce uniform fabrics from Egyptian cotton and poly cotton.
[© Bob Morrison]
[© Yves Debay †]
In addition to Egyptian ‘coffee stain’ camo, for comparison I have also republished a couple of images of Argentinean ‘coffee stain’ pattern, shot in Cyprus in 2014. This uniform was not particularly effective in the Eastern Mediterranean in the spring, when the photos were taken, but I was told at the time by UN press officers that it was ideal in the ‘universal cappuccino’ environment found in that region from summer through to late winter and I’m sure the same goes for Egypt. This Argentinean colour palette seemed closer to the US original than those uniforms I snapped in Cairo.
~
