British made 6 Color Desert Chocolate Chip "Mk. IV DPM Chemical Protective Smock"

Ooo... I like mysteries

The contract number is US and is more specifically a Marine Corps code.  I didn't know they had a special one, but they do and it was in use for quite some time (saw a truck with one from 2010).

As I understand it the NATO stock number's country code is for country of manufacture.  In this case is 99 and that is the UK.  So it checks out that there could be a UK NATO stock number with a US contract number.  Very unusual as this would require a waiver for buying outside of the normal US based production.

Swirling all this info together, it looks like the Marines Corps contracted for a bunch of chem suits from the Brits and at least some of them were delivered after the war ended.  Why the Brits?  Because when you need something fast you go to the first company that has the capacity to deliver.  In this case a very well known British supplier.  My guess is the US based firms were flat out making stuff for the Army and so, as is often the case, the Marines had to get creative. The US military was short on so much stuff going into Desert Shield that this doesn't surprise me at all.

Steve

As coincidence would have it...









And Here's a couple more of the Saudis with a similar suit... and then the strange 4-color desert DPM one!

I have one of these smocks too, so this is nice information to find.

I am not sure that the country code in an NSN necessarily indicates country of manufacture, but more typically, country of origin for a specific design or part. For instance, lots of Dutch stuff is made by Seyntex in Belgium, but it still has the Dutch country code in the NSN, not a Belgian one.

Good point. I read something last night when checking that specifically stated "manufactured", but that does sound wrong. I think you're right that it works differently when the item is designed by one country and made in another.

Steve