No more "Panther". This will be a new camouflage for Polish soldiers

The Military Research and Implementation Center of the Uniformed Service in Łódź presented on Thursday a new camouflage pattern of field uniforms for the Polish Army, marked K03 "Ryś", and presented the process of arriving at the latest uniform pattern, which scientists created with the participation of special forces soldiers who tested the new uniforms in the most difficult conditions.

Two patterns on uniforms in parallel

Representatives of the Polish Army stressed, however, that the date for replacing the army uniforms (2029) does not mean that each soldier will only receive a uniform of the new design. There are stocks of "Panther" camouflage uniforms in the warehouses for each reserve soldier with a mobilization assignment. These uniforms should be used within 5 years, so in the near future the army will be uniformed in two uniform designs in parallel.

Several years of testing

Col. Marek Trzonek, commandant of the Uniformed Service Research and Implementation Center in Łódź, said that the new uniform was created after several years of tests carried out by several hundred soldiers of the 6th Airborne Division, 25th Air Cavalry Brigade, 21st Podhale Rifle Brigade and special forces. Following the soldiers' comments, the prototype was changed and improved five times so that the final design best met the soldiers' requirements, both in terms of camouflage and functionality.

According to Trzonek, the new uniform design, although not tailor-made, offers great possibilities for personalization. You can choose a sweatshirt and trousers separately, in both men's and women's versions, which allows you to adapt the uniform to any size and even body type.

If we add to this high breathability and resistance to tearing, abrasion and fading, the Polish Army will receive the best product manufactured from scratch in the country - assured Col. Trzonek.

He added that tests of the new camouflage in field conditions showed that "Ryś" is much better than products available on the market.

Background of the Polish coniferous forest

Michał Szajnerski from the Special Forces Uniforms Workshop said that the designers of the new camouflage pattern for soldiers drew inspiration from nature, and the pattern resembles the background of a Polish coniferous forest. Multi-layer (6 colors) color application was used.

By layering colors on top of each other, we achieved the effect of a smooth transition between colors, just as we see in nature when looking at the forest. Instead of clear spots, we have a set of multi-colored points, which blurs the boundaries of combining colors, and the observer's eye sees many more shades and the image blurs, making a soldier in such a uniform more difficult to detect - explained Szajnerski.

First, the new uniforms will go to the 6th Airborne Division and the 25th Air Cavalry Brigade.