Pixel or Multicam? Battle of MM-14 and MM-25 in the rain and in the thickets! Hard test of the AFU uniform!

Speaker 1

What was his simplest task? That we would be distinguishable from the enemy.

Speaker 2

I'm in the shot!

Speaker 1

It's like comparing a "Zhiguli" and a "foreign car". I'm hiding. Well, it's obvious that it's wet. Very expensive. Very expensive. Glory to Ukraine to the viewers of the "Army" channel. So, pixel or multicam. Both types of camouflage are already in the official equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. We decided to test them across several parameters. And our friends from the Air Assault Forces will help us with this. Why did we turn specifically to them? Because the Air Assault Forces are one of the first branches of the military to receive MM-25 camouflage as official equipment. Why do you think specifically the Air Assault Forces?

Speaker 3

Always first.

Speaker 1

Did such things happen in the brigade? Some important formation, and half of them are in one thing, half in another.

Speaker 3

No, that has never happened. Hideous, but monotonous.

Speaker 1

Uniform is not just about outward appearance. It also has combat application. And that is why I

Speaker 2

It is interesting to compare the masking capabilities of these two drawings.

Speaker 1

The test will be as follows. Now we will test the MM-14 pixel. I will hide in this wooded area, and the camera will capture it like a human eye. Whether I will be noticeable or not. To confirm this, we will also have a thermal imager. For the sake of a complete experiment, we will change several locations. To understand whether I am noticeable or not.

Speaker 2

I'm in the shot! Let's go for something a bit greener.

Speaker 1

I saw the operator. I wonder if he sees me.

Speaker 2

Freezing weather. Off-camera, I changed my uniform to Multicam. Now we continue this experiment with Multicam. I'm hiding. Since in Multicam it blends more towards brown. I think we can gather some kind of assessment from this.

Speaker 1

This is the first MM-25 that I've actually seen in person and can touch. Therefore, it's interesting to compare in which forms, in which form factors they differ. What is immediately visible is that I don't see a place for a shoulder strap on the MM-25. Why do you think that is?

Speaker 3

Because in field conditions, nobody wears shoulder straps. How to immediately understand the quality of the uniform: if we look at the Velcro, it is of higher quality than on the MM-14, then it means that the fabric itself is of higher quality. It costs a lot.

Speaker 1

Too expensive. The pants here are like comparing a Zhiguli and a foreign car.

Speaker 3

Well, these are already more universal combat pants. If we take the pixel pattern, I remember that to avoid injuring our knee joints, we cut up foam mats and inserted them into a special pocket that we have there, but it is completely empty. Here, everything is protected right away. A service member threw on the uniform and went, both in the field and somewhere in an urban area. He doesn't have to worry that he'll scrape his knees and then have inflammation or some meniscus injury and will be limping around and then have to be treated for a long time, falling out of action. Then

Speaker 1

belt. This is not a belt that is issued with the pants. This is a built-in system for adjusting the size. The MM-14 also has this, but it is made slightly simpler. Are there boot hooks on these pants?

Speaker 3

Is.

Speaker 1

Yes. Unfortunately, far from everyone has them on the MM-14, but it is a very useful thing to keep the pants from riding up. As a reminder, these pants are issued directly to soldiers at warehouses; the state provides them according to their sizes. What else would you like to improve?

Speaker 3

In any form, I want to improve this somehow, whatever it may be. Perhaps you could include some sprays in the kit so that, for example, in autumn, it could be treated with water-repellent sprays. And it would then become more versatile.

Speaker 1

And in the next experiment, Mother Nature herself helps us. We are interested in how much the camouflage properties or simply the color of the MM-14 and MM-25 patterns change after getting wet. Well, after a long time in the rain, the winner becomes not so obvious, but MM-25 still remains closer to the starting color. In the "Dubok", which was before MM-14—that uniform that remained as a legacy from the Soviet era—everything was on buttons. There were no zippers; they were replaced by buttons. There wasn't a single velcro panel. As of 2014, all sleeve and chest insignia had to be sewn on by hand.

Speaker 2

We had a story like that.

Speaker 1

Before

Speaker 2

acceptance, after acceptance.

Speaker 1

But then, when they issued this uniform, then towards night they started cutting these sounds. Someone there at night gathers for duty, or returns from some duty, and this started, you put it on, you adjust it,

Speaker 3

You zip up. There are ten to fifteen people there, resting in groups of five, like wild boars running in the forest, some big ones are rustling. And everyone already understands right now that there is some kind of task, that they are gathering to go somewhere, to do some kind of thing.

Speaker 1

And, by the way, this is an interesting topic, so I suggest checking which of these uniforms is quieter. We have a special application for this. We will check it right now. We are not sure about the purity and impartiality of this experiment, but we must conduct it. For which tasks, in which conditions, and perhaps even for which branches of the military, is it better to choose either MM-14 or MM-25?

Speaker 3

Everything on the ground, it's better to have something [specific]. For example, MM-14 is more suitable in the forest, in green, in some kind of pine forest, because it will blend in against the background of early spring. Because if we compare now, MM-25 will be lighter than MM-14. Therefore, a light pattern, even if it is not pixelated like this sample, will be more suitable for, how should I put it, more arid regions, sandy areas. And this one is suitable for the forest, where there is more or less some dry grass, more low-growing [plants], like thickets or shrubs. That is, as you said, for forest-steppe, the east, for different tasks, different camouflage patterns can be used.