Jordan

Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (المملكة الأردنية الهاشمية) officially came into existence on December 7th, 1948, out of what was previously part of the Ottoman Empire and later the British Mandate of Palestine and Transjordan. Jordan fought alongside Egypt, Syria and Iraq during the Six-Day War (June 1967), and again (with the Arab League) during the Yom Kippur War (1973), yet has also experienced internal strife from various PLO groups operating within Jordanian territory. The country presently makes great efforts to remain at peace with all of its neighbors and promotes diplomatic solutions to regional problems.

The Jordanian Armed Forces (القوّات المسلّحة الاردنيّة) have a long history drawing on both British and American military traditions. As the Arab Legion (1920-1956), Jordanian troops fought alongside the Allies during the Second World War and later clashed with Israel during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Jordan has a highly-trained special forces branch (the Royal Jordanian Special Forces) among its other branches of service.

Jordanian Camouflage Patterns

• The Special Service Group was the British-trained predecessor of the modern Royal Jordanian Special Operations Forces. Their early uniforms combined elements of both British Army with traditional Arab garb, and initially included British-made and supplied 1959 pattern brushstroke camouflage Denison smocks.

• Some elements of the Jordanian Armed Forces continued to wear copies of the British Denison smock into the 1960s and 1970s. Extant samples suggest these were made in South Korea for export. Although copied from the British brushstroke design, the pattern on these imported smocks differs from that of earlier models in that the broad strokes feature both "wisp" elements (as from a brush running lightly over the fabric) as well as "stippling" or concentrated dots, which are a unique element of British DPM pattern camouflage.

• The use of the brushstroke camouflage pattern continued with the the Royal Jordanian Armed Forces with some conventional units, although by the late 1970s the uniforms were modeled after the US Army's M1968 pattern jungle fatigues. Shown here is a Korean-made camouflage pattern incorporating forest green and dark brown brushstrokes on a pale green or khaki background.

• The Jordanians were undoubtedly much influenced by American uniforms and camouflage designs during the late 1970s, as they also copied the M1948 ERDL pattern in the same US jungle style uniform made popular during the Vietnam War. A pattern virtually identical to this one was later adopted by the Iraqi Popular Army and is likely to have been manufactured by the same Romanian export company.

• Jordan did not adopt a camouflage pattern for general issue to its armed forces until the late 1980s. Continued American influence, however, prompted the country to embrace the US m81 woodland design. Most of the Jordanian issued uniforms were made in Asian countries, so there is some variability to style and coloration.

• The need for a camouflage design suitable for desert operations led Jordan to be one of the very first nations to adopt a copy of the US six-color "chocolate chip" camouflage design. As with the standard woodland camouflage uniform, most of these uniforms were imported from Asian factories.

• This unique design was developed for Jordanian Air Force ground personnel, primarily air base security. Difficult to describe, having no discernible lineage to the usual families of camouflage designs, the pattern features black, green, russet and mauve amoebic shapes on a dark pink background.

• In addition to the standard combat uniform and German-style field cap worn by all Jordanian military personnel, the Jordanian Air Force ground personnel were also issued a reversible wet weather uniform, printed on one side with the "amoeba" pattern and on the reverse with a copy of the US "night desert" camouflage pattern.

• The Public Security Directorate (PSD) is a law-enforcement branch that is subordinate to the Jordanian Ministry of the Interior. Some units of the PSD wear a copy of British DPM camouflage with a blue or purple colorway. This pattern became obsolete with the introduction of the KA2 series of digital patterns.

• Based around the original US "Night Desert" pattern drawings, but incorporating a solid blue colorway, this design has appeared on reversible parkas and wet weather systems issued primarily to the PSD (but also apparently issued to certain other government personnel).

In 2003, the Jordanian Ministry of Defense, under the directive of His Majesty King Abdullah II, implemented plans to replace the mixture of camouflage designs currently in use with a series of designs having a unifying foundation. Contracting with the HyperStealth® Biotechnology Corpporation of Canada, and using computer technology to design an effective system of camouflage patterns, the result was the KA2 series of digital camouflage patterns. Seven colorways were ultimately developed, for issue respectively to: Land/Air Forces, the Royal Guard, the Special Forces, the Navy/Coast Guard, the Public Security Directorate, the Civil Defense Directorate, and the Customs Department. The first six designs, each incorporating a tiny image of the outline of Jordan within the camouflage design, were first issued to Jordanian personnel in 2005.

• The KA2 Digital Desert pattern was designed to be the standard combat uniform of the Royal Jordanian Land and Air Forces. Since its implementation, several uniform styles have been issued in two types of cloth (twill and ripstop)

• The KA2 Special Forces Woodland Digital pattern was developed for issue solely to the Royal Jordanian Special Forces. Two uniform styles have been documented, using two types of fabric.

• The KA2 Royal Guard digtial pattern was developed for issue strictly to members of the Royal Guard.

• The KA2 Urban Digital pattern was introduced for use by the Public Security Directorate of the Jordanian Ministry of the Interior. Subsequent to the original issue of the KA2 series of uniforms, the Ministry of Defense contracted with a different manufacturer but was unable to secure the rights to reproduce the original camouflage design. Hence, the second and subsequent series of KA2 uniforms are printed using a similar pattern - but not an exact copy of the original (below, right)

• The KA2 Jordanian Navy/Coast Guard digital pattern is seen here.

• The KA2 Jordanian Civil Defense Directorate digital pattern is seen here.

• The KA2 Jordanian Customs Department digital pattern is seen here.

• For a short period of time (circa 2012-2014), Jordanian special operations personnel wore a version of the commercially-available Multicam pattern. This may have been simply tested by the SOC, as ultimately Jordan would adopt a Multicam-style uniform unique to its special operations personnel (see below).

• The Jordanian Special Operations Command adopted a unique camouflage pattern in 2015, the design of which incorporates various-sized organic shapes, some with small "islands" within the shape of a contrasting color. The color palette draws heavily from that used for Multicam.

• The Ministry of Interior announced in 2015 that the Public Security Directorate would begin to issue a new camouflage uniform, replacing the previously issued KA2 pixelated pattern. This new pattern is based on [Multicam]-like drawings and features a color palette that is primarily blue, but with fewer overall colors in the design that Multicam. The reason this decision was made is uncertain, but it may indicate a trend to turn away from digital patterns entirely.

• First observed early in 2019, a pixelated camouflage pattern is now in service with the Jordanian Army that appears to be heavily influenced by the USMC desert MARPAT camouflage design. A careful examination reveals that color palette to be somewhat varied, however, incorporating trace elements of brown and ochre, with larger patches of khaki on a sand-colored base.

• Comparison of the KA2 Urban Digital Pattern (left - with the map of Jordan) compared with the "copy" (right) also used by the PSD.