ARLINGTON, Va. (AFNS) -- Air and Space Professionals will soon be more recognizable in their Operational Camouflage Pattern uniforms.
OCP rank insignia, badges, name, and service tapes will now feature a lighter, three-color background pattern, versus the current seven-color pattern, to increase readability and ease rank recognition.
“We received significant feedback that prompted this update,” said Lisa Truesdale, Air Force military force management policy deputy director. “The current rank insignia, badges, name, and service tapes on the OCP uniform are sometimes challenging to see against a seven-color background. Simplifying these features on a lighter, three-color pattern—while not compromising the overall functionality of the uniform—will improve our situational awareness in day-to-day interactions.”
The Air Force name and service tapes will retain their current spice brown letter stitching, while Space Force versions will still feature space blue stitching. Stitching for the Air Force rank insignia and badges will remain spice brown.
The Army and Air Force Exchange Service has already begun to transition inventories to the new three-color pattern name and service tapes. The Defense Logistics Agency is placing orders for the three-color pattern as seven-color backgrounds are phased out; some of the three-color insignia name tags should be in the inventory by Nov. 2020.
The U.S. Air Force Academy implemented the uniform change for the June 2020 class and Basic Military Training is on target for Oct. 2020.
The current seven-color background rank insignia, badges, name and service tapes are and will remain, authorized for wear.