when zai told me about the history of singapore's armed forces camouflage, i did a bit of googling and found an interesting article about the camouflage they use. apparently it's the 4th incarnation, a new type of digitally pixelized pattern that even better than tradition camo for blending into singapore's jungle environment.
"The full explanation from the Singapore Army is that becuase of the advanced surveillance equipment and weapon optics in use today, soldiers face a greater risk of detection in combat. Recognising this, the Singapore Army and the Defence Science & Technology Agency (DSTA) jointly developed the new SAF combat uniform with an enhanced camouflage pattern to reduce detection – based on the science of human visual performance and visual biophysics. Research was done to see how the defined boundary lines in the current camouflage pattern could be replaced to improve the camouflage capability of the combat uniform. Pixels were used to break up boundary lines and to generate a quivering effect. This affects the ability of the eye to see solid lines and the brain to detect recognisable shapes, resulting in a slower detection rate of the pixelised camouflage pattern at short distances (micro-pattern). Viewed at longer distances, the pixelised camouflage works just like the traditional camouflage which comprises pattern shapes (macro-pattern)."
so it's because of new surveillance (read photo and video) technologies that they now have to redo the uniform. i bet it has something to with the way CCD digital chips are used to record everything, the way they see everything in pixels. hence pixelated camo. very interesting.
