Selection process OCP uniform In the early 2010s, the U.S. Army concluded that the UCP did not adequately meet all of the concealment needs for Afghanistan's multiple regions. In 2010, the United States Army Camouflage Improvement Effort considered 22 entrants. The Army eliminated the patterns down to five finalists who exceeded the baseline patterns and Scorpion W2 was among them in the Army's in-house submission (the Army later withdrew their submission leaving the four commercial vendors). The finalists in the Army's Phase IV camouflage testing were Crye Precision; ADS Inc. and Hyperstealth Inc.; Brookwood Companies Inc.; and Kryptek Inc. The
2014 National Defense Authorization Act (NDA or NDAA), prevents any service from adopting a new camouflage pattern not already in inventory before the NDA, unless they get all other services to adopt the same pattern. As a result, the Army had to consider existing camouflage patterns within the United States
Department of Defense. The Army owns the licensing rights for Scorpion W2, which lowers the overall cost, and allows the Army the option to restrict the pattern to service members only. On May 14, 2018, the U.S. Air Force announced that all airmen will transition from the
Airman Battle Uniform to the OCP uniform. Airmen were authorized to wear OCP uniforms beginning October 1, 2018. Recruits in basic training, and cadets in
Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps, and
Officer Training School were issued OCPs beginning October 1, 2019. All airmen were required to own OCP uniforms by April 1, 2021. Unlike the Army, the Air Force uses brown thread for name tapes and rank insignia and have a subdued-color flag patch at all times instead of when on deployment. The
U.S. Space Force has also adopted the OCP uniform, but with navy blue thread for ranks and tapes. The
Civil Air Patrol adopted the OCP uniform on November 4, 2025, replacing the
Airman Battle Uniform. ABUs are still authorized as a uniform until October 31, 2028. The Civil Air Patrol's version of OCPs has navy blue name tapes and with silver lettering and full-color patches. ==Users==