Germany to Replace Old Camouflage Pattern With Multitarn

In the coming years, the Bundeswehr plans to replace all military uniforms in the Flecktarn camouflage pattern in favor of the universal Multitarn.

The German media Hartpunkt reported on this, citing sources in the army.

According to the publication, the Federal Ministry of Defense has abandoned its resistance to changing the army’s camouflage, having decided to start purchasing personal equipment in the new camouflage starting in 2026.

It is expected that the complete replacement of the old Flecktarn patterned equipment and re-equipment of all Bundeswehr soldiers will take place during 2028-2029.

Authorized representatives of the armed forces and organizational units in the field of military equipment have already advocated the massive introduction of the new Multitarn camouflage pattern, which is currently used only by army special forces, in particular, in KSK.

The publication noted that representatives of special forces are in favor of the massive introduction of the new camouflage pattern in the troops, as the current situation makes it easy to identify a special forces soldier by the pattern on his uniform.

Multitarn has been developed by the Bundeswehr since the 2010s as a replacement for the standard Flecktarn camouflage. Its idea is to create a camouflage pattern that, while not the best option for a particular environment, offers the best possible camouflage for a variety of operational conditions.

“Multitarn is not the best pattern in as many operational environments as possible, but it is not the worst pattern in as many operational environments as possible,” the aforementioned study by the Bundeswehr Research Institute for Materials, Fuels and Lubricants (WIWeB) states.

According to the WIWeB study, the new camouflage pattern will allow the German infantryman to operate effectively in green European mixed forests as well as in urban areas and suburbs.

With this approach, he repeats the idea of the Multicam pattern, which is widespread in the world. The German pattern has five colors, but with an emphasis on colder shades typical of European latitudes.

Earlier, the French Ministry of Defense made a similar decision to switch to the “multitasking” Scorpion camouflage pattern, which will be known by the army designation F3.

The French Armed Forces will start re-equipping with the new uniform starting in 2024. The new pattern will replace two sets of uniforms for operations in Central Europe and desert regions.