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Start Date: 07/2013
End date: 02/2015 (amendment under discussion)
Participating Countries: AT, CZ, DE, FI, FR, SE

Currently within the EU military community there is no common view of or practice in the use of camouflage. This leads to a situation where every nation uses its own experience and equipment, even when multinational forces are deployed together in the same theatre. Differences in camouflage technology and practice may compromise an entire multinational force.

To overcome this situation this project aims at creating a European cross-border network of excellence for camouflage. This network will enable Member States to better define requirements and test and evaluation (T&E) procedures for camouflage specifications and products.

As a pilot project, specifications and T&E methods for a European multi-spectral camouflage net were developed with the aim to enable future cross-border qualification of suppliers and potential common procurement.

Project goals

Establish harmonised best practice standards for the definition of technical requirements;
Establish harmonised test procedures;
Establish a quality management process between the associated test facilities;
Establish a database on available (evaluated) camouflage products and standards for testing;
Establish an information exchange on intended camouflage related procurements;
Conduct a common assessment of camouflage material;
Provide expertise to the EDA about future camouflage issues.

Detailed description of the project

Most Member States specify and develop their own multi-spectral camouflage nets and are using their own methods to test these nets. The objectives of this project were to develop standardised EU specifications and methods for testing multi-spectral camouflage nets. Current national military standards were compared and analysed in order to create a common European approach. The ambition was to identify and establish a minimum but effective set of requirements. Mutual visits to national camouflage equipment testing facilities helped to establish trust in the various measurement methods. This project also developed a new specification for a woodland European Camouflage Net (EUCAN) and thereby provided European technical specification and qualification procedures for potential suppliers of camouflage materials. The UV, VIS, IR, radar and pattern properties of multi-spectral nets are contained in the specification. A major achievement of this project is potential interoperability amongst the nations fielding the proposed standardised EUCAN camouflage net. By applying the validated standard test methods, any force engaged in a joint EU deployment will have camouflage systems of known multi-spectral capability, which are traceable to common standards. This reduces the possibility of mismatch and a compromise of counter-surveillance measures. The expertise and available test resources of the SPEC members group is a valuable asset to the EDA and Member States concerning future camouflage procurement.

The follow-on activities of this project are:

Finalise an EUCAN qualification procedure together with interested EU suppliers;
Prove the principle of cross-border qualification, based on the network of European T&E Centers, by using the test case of EUCAN;
Enhance co-operation among camouflage experts under the EDSTAR (EG23) and DTEB umbrellas, by forming a dedicated group to address camouflage in general;
Explore the potential of a joint procurement for EUCAN.