Yemen

Republic of Yemen

The Republic of Yemen (الجمهورية اليمنية) was formed in May of 1990 by the amalgamation of the former Yemen Arab Republic and the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (Yemen (Democratic Republic)). The country has strong political and military ties to Egypt and Saudi Arabia, but is primarily supplied with war materiel by China, Russia and North Korea. The country employs a wide variety of camouflage patterns scattered amongst its military and paramilitary forces, including American, British and Egyptian designs, as well as some recent pixelated designs of indigenous origin.

Yemeni Camouflage Patterns

• Certainly the longest-lived camouflage pattern worn by Yemeni forces is the Egyptian two-color desert or "sand" pattern. The pattern was used by airborne & commando forces of the former Yemen Arab Republic and has been worn historically by some units of the Yemeni Armed Forces and the Yemen Police. All current issue Yemeni uniforms appear to be made in China, and are generally marked with the Yemeni Armed Forces national crest. More recently produced versions of this pattern have a distinctively yellow coloration.

• The general issue camouflage pattern of the Yemeni Armed Forces and Police is a variation of British DPM. The design features black, chocolate brown & bright green disruptive shapes on an orange-tan background, and is distinctive when compared to British, New Zealand or other versions.

• Another commonly distributed pattern is a locally-made copy of the US-designed six-color desert pattern (chocolate chip). The Yemeni version has a much darker colorway, incorporating white rocks with black shadow shapes scattered over a background of reddish-brown, orange-tan & dark tan with a sandy base.

• Yemeni Special Forces & Republican Guards wear a unique arid camouflage design having greyish-brown and grey amoebic shapes over a background of tan and stone. The pattern bears a strong resemblance to that worn currently by the Cyprus National Guard, yet the drawings are distinctive and not the same.

• A copy of the US m81 woodland pattern is worn by some members of the Yemeni Police.

• A three-color "spot" design, seemingly copied or heavily influenced by the Finnish M70 camouflage design, has been fielded by some units of the Armed Forces.

• Also worn by the Yemeni Police is an urban or blue DPM pattern, similar to designs commonly encountered in other Arab Gulf States (Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, UAE, et al). Several color variations have been observed, including the one seen here with strong purple overtones.

• Some members of the Yemeni Coast Guard wear a variation of the ubiquitous chocolate chip camouflage design, with a primarily grey colorway. This design is very similar to versions worn by Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

• Circa 2008-2009 Yemen began introduction of a series of pixelated camouflage patterns to replace the traditional analog designs used heretofore. One of the first patterns to emerge is seen here, having a unique colorway for use by some members of its armed forces. The design incorporates black, reddish brown, dark green & olive green on a pale green background.

• Yemeni Republican Guards and Special Forces also adopted a pixelated pattern circa 2008-2009, using the same colors as their previous organic camouflage.

• Another digital pattern seen recently is this three-color desert variant, incorporating smaller reddish-brown shapes on a background of sand and tan.

• First documented in 2013, a copy of the US desert MARPAT camouflage pattern is now also being fielded by some units of the Yemeni Armed Forces.

• Yet another pixelated design is seen here. The similarities in color suggest this pattern was influenced by the Egyptian-inspired two-color desert design also worn by this nation.

• The design seen here is also based around a pixelated concept, but the squares themselves seem to be much larger than most conventional digital patterns.