Disruptive Pattern Material
Disruptive Pattern Material (DPM)
Disruptive Pattern Material, or DPM, is a camouflage pattern used by British forces, as well as other nations, such as the Dutch, and some former British colonies, such as Pakistan, for example.
The main variant is a four-colour woodland variant with olive, khaki, brown and black, there is also a two-colour desert variant. DPM has been criticised for its use of black, as “there’s no black in nature!” but once faded, it becomes dull and subdued.
History
In 1966 the army adopted a smock, trousers and helmet cover in DPM, these replaced the second world war era olive drab Battledress and also the earlier camouflage Denison smock, which had been issued to paratroops. The pattern remains unchanged in the ’85 and ’95 issues of clothing, being applied to an increasingly varied range of items. In 1990 a new system of webbing was adopted, which was available in both olive and DPM, with the camouflage variant becoming much more widespread.