Ranger Multi Terrain Transitional Pattern (RMTTP)

As is usual practice in the Irish military the Special Operations Unit, the Army Ranger Wing or ARW, gets to trial and issue new kit before it reaches the wider Force. This is no exception. The Ranger Wing started experimenting with Multicam Uniforms circa 2017/18 as the pattern was becoming the De Facto standard pattern of NATO SOF Units. Ireland while not being a member of NATO is a member of NATO PFP and Irish Troops, including SOF, are aligned to NATO STANAGs for interoperability.

Anyway. In 2019 a decision was made to send a very small contingent of ARW troops to embed with German Forces as part of the MINUSMA mission in Mali. Realising that the current issue IP-DPM was unsuitable for use in the terrain and climate of sub-saharan Africa a case was made to issue Multicam style Uniforms. At that time Seyntex in Belgium held the contract to supply our uniforms but with a very short lead in time from the Government approval to deploy until actual deployment they could not manufacture a new uniform in time. So, the first deployment of ARW to Mali were issued with off the shelf Crye precision G3 Uniforms in standard Multicam. The sets consisted of simply a UBACS and Combat trousers. A few privately purchased sets of kit were used by the operators from companies such as Clawgear and Beyond Clothing.

Whilst the First contingent was deployed Seyntex set about producing Uniform sets for the next rotation. As The DF was considering switching to a new pattern to replace IP-DPM across the board the ARW deployments were subsequently used to test the effectiveness of Multicam as a baseline for the development of a bespoke pattern for Irish DF use. In early 2020 the second deployment of Rangers to Mali were issued with Seyntex made Uniforms. These Uniforms are dated 2019 as they were manufactured in that year. This pattern was also issued to Operators who deployed to Kabul Airport in 2021 as part of the Evacuation Operation. At the time and until July of 2023 Operators could only wear the Multicam pattern off Island. In July of 2023 DF Regulations were amended to permit the wearing of the new pattern by all Unit members both at home and deployed. The Ranger Multi Terrain Transitional Pattern or RMTTP was born. Thus named to differentiate the pattern in Regulations from the soon to be designed ITMP which would be worn by the Regular Army and certain elements of the Air Corps in the future.

RMTTP is not ITMP. Although their is speculation that the ARW (Soon to be renamed IRL SOF) may adopt the pattern in the future. The RMTTP Uniform currently consists of a Combat shirt (UBACS) and Trousers in the Crye G3 design. A barracks wear Field Shirt and Trousers in the Crye G4 design and a Jacket in the Crye ATO MId loft style. To date no other items in the RMTTP have been issued such as a smock or waterproof suit.

Anyway. First here are some reference photos showing the timeline of the development and rollout of the new Uniform and pattern with the first picture being of a Demo in 2018 for the Irish Prime Minister and General staff. The Uniform being worn was purchased in the US by Unit members taking part in an International competition and was worn to show off the concept to the Higher Ups.




ARW operators wearing privately purchased Multicam on a Breaching course in the US. August 2019.


ARW Operator wearing issued Crye G3 uniform. Mali. October 2019.



ARW Operators wearing issued Crye Uniform and privately purchase Clawgear Uniform. Mali. 2019.

ARW Operators wearing the first issue Crye Uniforms during CQB Training. May 2020.



ARW Operator wearing the first issue of the Seyntex made Uniform. Mali. 2020. (Operator in the middle)

2019 variant, Seyntex made UBACS. Worn in Mali. You can clearly see the effects of being laundered in local facilities. The Seyntex UBACS has a double pocket on each bicep with velcro on both the outer pocket lid and main body. The Shirts came supplied with a "Blanking plate" similar to the design of the standard IP-DPM UBACS. Unlike the IP-DPM version the Multicam version had internal sleeve pockets for soft elbow pads and elasticated and velcro closed cuffs rather than buttons. Behind the outer pocket on each sleeve was a zippered pocket and each outer pocket retained the large velcro field for patches and internal tie down loops. Unusually bot the UBACS and Matching trousers were labelled "Special Forces Ireland". This was omitted on later versions.

The 2019 Seyntex manufacture Trouser generally followed the Crye G3 design with slots to take insertable hardshell kneepads, Dual velcro adjusters at the back of the knee, shock cord kneepads height adjusters in the front thigh pockets and D Rings and elastic Magazine/Bottle retainers inside the cargo pockets. A handy little design addition was the introduction of zippered ventilation opening on the upper front area. On this variant the stretch panels in the upper back, knee area and crotch gusset are in Multicam material. This was omitted in later versions.

In Use. ARW Operators preparing to deploy and on the ground in Kabul August 2021





ARW Combat Medic Training (Note the newly introduced subdued Unit flash)

The 2021 production run by Seyntex made no major changes to the uniform design, material used or labelling. The UBACS cut remained the same so there is no point in my posting photos and sadly my 2021 UBACS has the tag removed. The only change was the dropping of the Multicam colour in favour of coyote brown on the stretch panels on the trousers.

The 2022 Seyntex variant forms the basis for the final design of RMTTP uniform which is now current issue to Unit members. Unusually while the the RMTTP Field Jacket and trousers follows the Crye G4 cut the Combat trousers and UBACs reverted to the G3 style. As Seyntex makes up one third of the SSC Consortium that currently supplies the BDCS Uniform to the Belgian Military it made sense to purchase an already in production Field Shirt and Trousers for Barracks wear. The ARW Version though while copying the addition of Coyote Brown velcro panels for Rank, nametag and national identifier on the chest of the field shirt opts to go with the same colour velcro panels on the sleeves for patches as opposed to the Multicam colour patches on the BDCS variant. Unfortunately these are so new I have yet to be able to source one yet.

Anyway with regard to the 2022 variant UBACS and shirt there are some design changes to both. Both shirt and trousers drop the "Special forces Ireland" labelling. The UBACS bicep pockets are styled like Crye G3's with the following changes. No Pen pocket on the forward edge of the left sleeve pocket but with a pen slot added to the pocket lid. Tie down loops inside the lid of both pockets. Blanking panels factory supplied but as these only have two thin strips of velcro to attach they flop around and are rarely used.

The trousers retain some of the design feature of the 2019 and 2021 variants while omitting others. For instance the ventilation zippers remain on the front upper legs while an extra pocket has been added to the left lower legs and pass through slots to take a folding knife for instance at the top of both cargo pockets, The cargo pockets themselves design remains unchanged both internally and externally. Strangely though there are no stretch panels at the usual location of any kind. A big mistake in my opinion. Nor is there any kind of crotch gusset to prevent blowouts in this area. Even the standard issue DPM trousers have had that feature since 2017.

Also the amount of adjustment on the back of the knees for the kneepads has been reduced with only single adjusters as opposed to two.

So. Pros and cons.

2022 Variant in use.

When is ITMP realistically going to start being issued ? 2025 sound unrealistic ?

Also is it just me or is that 2022 trouser seem to be in US W2 Scorpion/OCP compared to the others being in multicam ?

RonaldReagan wrote:When is ITMP realistically going to start being issued ? 2025 sound unrealistic ?

"Our new Uniform system. DFCCS (Defence Forces Combat Clothing System) in the Crye designed ITMP (Irish Transitional Multicam Pattern). it is not being manufactured yet. Nowhere close to being. The Uniform system only went out to tender in September. The start of a four stage competition. We are currently in the middle of stage two with contracts not expected to be awarded until the end of December this year. With the sheer volume of items to be procured and manufactured delivery is not expected before the end of 2025 with early 2026 being likely."

RonaldReagan wrote:Also is it just me or is that 2022 trouser seem to be in US W2 Scorpion/OCP compared to the others being in multicam ?

It's not OCP. It's RMTTP. Similar but not exact Multicam.

Finally got my hands on one of the Field Shirts aka Barrack dress. Crye G4 cut licence made by Seyntex in Belgium.

Very similar to the new Belgian army BDCS Field shirt with the addition of velcro fields for name ,Rank and national identifier to the chest. The two can be differentiated by the colour of the velcro on the sleeve pockets. The Irish version has coyote brown velcro as opposed to the Multicam velco on the belgian version. Another giveaway on the Irish version is the addition of a tag inside the left sleeve pocket for the wearer to add their name and service number.

You've been doing pretty well keeping up with the new issues of this stuff. Interesting to see so much purchasing of "off the shelf" designs in order to keep costs down.

Are all of these minor changes intended to proof the specifics for the eventual force wide issue, or are these examples only intended as an interim uniform for special forces?

Steve

Are all of these minor changes intended to proof the specifics for the eventual force wide issue, or are these examples only intended as an interim uniform for special forces?

While IRL SOF tested a few variants of Multicam in Mali as part of the proof of concept for the introduction of ITMP Force wide their current uniform is not indicative of any final design. The competition to decide who gets the contract to supply DFCCS force wide is still ongoing as a contract is not expected to be awarded until late this year.

You could argue that their uniform is indicative if Seyntex was to win the contract but they are just one of many in the competition as far as I know.

Logistik Unicorp of Canada was recently awarded the contract to supply our Naval Service with their NSV DPM uniform for the next few years so they are probably in the running also. We'll just have to wait and see.

Got it! Thanks and it will be interesting to see what the full issue looks like whenever they get around to it

Steve