From May 2001 to June 2004,
Development In 2002, three patterns were developed, called
All-Over Brush,
Track, and
Shadowline. For each pattern, there were four color combinations, which corresponded to a specific type of terrain, however, all four patterns used
tan as their base color. For the remainder of the phases, production printing with regular dyes and
mechanical rollers were used. Following phase I testing, the Shadowline pattern was eliminated, along with the urban and desert-urban color ways of All-Over Brush. All four of the Track patterns were accepted along with All-Over Brush's woodland and desert colorways.
Phases II and III In 2003, the patterns were then modified and tested alongside a "Contractor-Developed Mod" pattern,
Scorpion, developed in conjunction with
Crye Precision. Phase II's near-infrared nighttime testing determined that black, medium gray, and medium tan were the only colors that gave acceptable performance.
Phase IV In 2004, all four remaining patterns, Desert Brush, Woodland Track Mod, Scorpion Mod, and Urban Track were then tested alongside each other in two sets of evaluations in woodland, desert, and urban environments. Full
Future Force Warrior ensembles were fabricated for testing.
Results The Desert Brush design received the best overall mean daytime visual rating. The Scorpion pattern received highest rating in woodland environments, but lower ratings in desert and urban environments. Urban Track was generally the 3rd or 4th ranked performer at each site, but was the best performer in nighttime environments. Infrared testing showed negligible differences in the performance of the four patterns. Natick rated the patterns from best to worst as: Desert Brush, Woodland Track Mod, Contractor-Developed Mod (Scorpion), and Urban Track. ==Color selection==