1963 Pattern British Windproof Smock and Trousers in Early DPM Camouflage

Disruptive Pattern Material (DPM) is the commonly used name of a camouflage pattern used by the British Armed Forces as well as many other armed forces worldwide, particularly in former British colonies.

The Woodland Pattern DPM was used with the mediumweight No.8 Temperate Combat Dress (c.1966/1968) and lightweight No.9 Tropical Combat Dress (c.1976). The later Desert Pattern DPM (c.late 1980s) was designated the No.5 Desert Combat Dress.

A new British DPM was developed in the early 1960s, using the four basic western European temperate colours of black, dark brown, mid-green and a dark sand to make a very effective camouflage that has survived in its basic design, with no more than slight changes to the colours and pattern, until current times. This design was probably used first on a very small scale for a hooded Smock, Windproof, 1963 Pattern, issued only to special forces. In 1966 the Army introduced, though not universally, a camouflage field uniform