In many military works, we can see soldiers painted with big flower faces!
This seemingly simple face camouflage pattern actually has a lot of knowledge!
Some people also humorously said: this is the soldiers putting a "grimace" on themselves to scare the enemy!
Of course, the above sentence is just a joke – the main reason for using face camouflage is that in environments such as jungles, the human face is a fairly obvious target. Because there are very few light-colored, roughly rounded scenes in the jungle that resemble human faces, human faces are easily exposed in this background.
With face camouflage, you can fade the features of your face, cooperate with the camouflage costume, and hide it in a natural background such as the jungle. Since it is a concealment role, it is not possible to scare the enemy.
In recent years, many wars have taken place in desert landforms, when the face is closer to the natural background, coupled with the hot climate, the probability of using face camouflage is much lower.
It should be particularly emphasized that camouflage is a military discipline with a history of more than a hundred years, and it is by no means a scientific and technological achievement that can be made by scientific researchers of any country with a pat on the head. Some blue and white camouflage, only a little meaningful between the beachhead waves, once on the beach, desert, the vegetation is incompatible with the natural landscape, which is equivalent to actively exposing themselves.
The color collocation and pattern design of face camouflage mainly rely on the scientific achievements of camouflage design of personnel clothing, weapons and equipment. In both China and abroad, camouflage design work began by investigating the visual characteristics of a typical combat environment. Then through the reasonable camouflage color and spot shape design, get a camouflage design that can effectively hide in the personnel and equipment. In the past, designers relied on human hands, brain power, and subjective experience, but computer-aided design has greatly simplified the work.
In addition to the most popular visual cover equipment - camouflage helmets and camouflage clothing, the face and back of the hand camouflage paint used by individual soldiers are the most important visual concealment means for personal use. The scientific and technological equipment of the detectors continues to evolve, including infrared thermal imaging, radar and other equipment continue to be popularized.
Therefore, there is a real need for the development of human camouflage technology that effectively deals with multispectral and radar detection methods. Military face camouflage ointment is the most important means.
Military camouflage ointment, which can be applied to the face and the back of the hand like a skin care product, forms a camouflage color similar to camouflage clothing, which not only covers, but also plays other protective roles.
Early military camouflage ointment only needed to achieve visual concealment, but a large number of problems were exposed in actual use, including the problems of low comfort, weak waterproof, sweatproof, and sun protection functions, and ineffective multispectral detection methods. Modern military camouflage ointment has a wealth of functions: it can prevent ultraviolet burns in the sun, anti-infrared, anti-visible light, anti-mosquito bites and so on. The specific means of its implementation are classified information in military-grade products, but it does not prevent us from speculating based on public information.
Interestingly, many of the techniques used in military face camouflage actually originate from civilian products, and some even come from women's makeup product technology.
China's military camouflage ointment was developed late and started later than military powers such as the United States and Russia. However, in recent years, the newly developed domestic military camouflage ointment has been used in batches. In terms of camouflage color matching, mainly according to the needs of the green vegetation environment, the box is matched with green, brown and earth yellow or dark gray combinations. Borrowed from the development of the US military standard FED-STD-595B camouflage standard, the green standard is 34151, brown is 30266. Specific forms include toothpaste-like tube mechanisms and similar structures to women's foundation makeup boxes, each with its own advantages.
By using titanium oxide microparticles, most of the sunlight can be shielded from ultraviolet rays, mainly because of the scattering effect of such particles. Mosquito repellent effects can be achieved by adding anti-mosquito ingredients, such as the low-toxicity DEET. Using the wave absorption capacity of special raw materials, the reduced reflection effect for wide frequency band and multispectral is realized, and better visible light and infrared stealth are realized. Through the combination of suitable oil ingredients, to achieve the purpose of waterproof, sweatproof, skin comfort - uncomfortable camouflage ointment, will interfere with the normal training of soldiers, reduce combat effectiveness, so the pursuit of this product comfort level is not "temperamental".
The newly developed Chinese military camouflage ointment is comparable to the more advanced sunscreen in the civilian field in many aspects in terms of comfort, waterproof and sweatproof/durability, which is extremely important for the daily application of soldiers and plays a key role in concealing and protecting itself.