1980 British MOD contract Desert pants Genuine

Hi, this is my 1980 Iraq contracted pants, size 36" waist despite being listed as small.







*NOTE the contract date of 1980*

Do you know where it would be possible to pick up one of these patterned smocks? The photo reference here is the only place on the web I have successfully been able to find information on Iraqi DPM.

Didn't the UK's desert DPM look alot like this until very briefly before Operation Granby?

As far as I know the UK version was identical to the Iraqi contract version. Note the design of the uniform is identical to the then current issue British tropical uniform, right down to the buttons.

I have a full set of jacket and trousers, but my tags have been sliced out. The only bit that remains is the very top of the labels saying it's Iraqi MOD contact. Nice to have a pic of what the label is supposed to look like! Thanks Bravo_2_zero!

Steve

WHERE did you find them?!?
Is it possible that some Brit units still had smocks in this pattern on-hand during the Gulf War in 1991?

In the BBC movie "Bravo Two Zero" a couple members of the SAS patrol are wearing smocks in this pattern. All the other kit in the movie appears to be spot-on...so would the use of these smocks have been possible, or was it just a prop department mistake?


Look at the guy in the bottom right corner.


I know his smock is dirty, but I can clearly make out more than two colours on it...

Repro'ish 4 colour DPM smocks were made by SASS in and around the time gulf was on. They also made 'Ghost' desert DPM after the 1st run of mass issue DDPM, i have one of these smocks.

I would guess the bravo 2 zero movie smocks were the SASS ones.

Can you please post some photos of your smock like this? I'd love to see some detail of this pattern.

Nice pics Bravo 2 Zero! I have jacket, trousers, and frag vest cover in what I think of as "Sparse Desert DPM". It looks like your kit but without the subtle "ghost" affect underneath. I'm curious if you know when the one I have was issued.

Ben, I got my kit out of a very large collection. They were probably picked up in the early 1990s.

Cheers,

Steve

CollectinSteve wrote:Nice pics Bravo 2 Zero! I have jacket, trousers, and frag vest cover in what I think of as "Sparse Desert DPM". It looks like your kit but without the subtle "ghost" affect underneath. I'm curious if you know when the one I have was issued.

Ben, I got my kit out of a very large collection. They were probably picked up in the early 1990s.

Cheers,

Steve

the ghost stuff was just after the 4 colour DPM's the printers used 3 of the 4 colour DPM screen, this made the ghost effect as 2 of the screens printed desert pink.

The batch was a very early run and once found no good the cloth looks like it was sent to be made as frag vests, i've seen 100's of frag vests in ghost.
The sparse DPM is like rocking horse poo now to buy, the odd bit shows up but in tiny sizes.

There was a ghost smock sold on eBay UK in the past month by SASS online which gave a more detailed and dated review of smock and print.

You know, as soon as you said that thing about seeing 100s of frag vests in "ghost" I suddenly remembered... mine is like that! I just dug it out and double checked. And I also forgot that it has the inserts too, not just a cover. Thanks for making my night

I've had two sparse shirts and one set of trousers. I got the shirt and the frag vest with a large purchase, then I saw a set of trousers and shirt on Spanish eBay. It was a tiny, bad picture that was just marked as "Uniforme camuflaje ARIDO INGLES usado airsoft" (I keep all eBay stuff ). I looked at it very, very hard and figured out that it was the sparse pattern, so I bid and won it for little money since nobody else wanted it. Shipping set me back a bit! I can't remember now if a boonie came with it or not. Memory tells me it did, but I can't say for sure now.

BTW, I've got some low res pics of 4 color para smock and 4 color windproof snagged off of eBay. IIRC they went for big bucks.

Cheers,

Steve

Can you post the photos, if possible? Lo-res doesn't bother me. I really like this pattern of DPM.