Nepal

Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal

Officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal (सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल), the nation retained its sovereignty throughout the colonial period and into the present day. The security of the nation is entrusted to the Nepalese Army (नेपाली सेना), the Armed Police, and the Nepalese Police Force.

Nepalese Camouflage Patterns

• The first camouflage pattern worn by Nepal was obtained from Japan. The uniforms were worn by the Airborne Battalion, and locally-made from imported fabric.

• A second version of this pattern was copied from the original design, but produced locally on lightweight fabric. Although an attempt was made to match the colors of the original, they do differ considerably due to poor quality control.

• In the early 1990s, the Japanese drawings were retained but the colors modified to create a national version of the camouflage for issue to Nepalese personnel deployed on UN missions. This version features black, brown and medium green shapes on a bright lime green background.

• Another camouflage design was adopted as the universal pattern for the Nepalese Army in the mid-1990s. Known as DPM, the pattern has no relationship to the British design of the same name. This pattern has black, brown and olive green shapes on a khaki background and uses different drawings from the earlier designs.

• Both the Nepalese Police Force and the Armed Police wear an urban pattern camouflage, having black, blue-grey, and grey disruptive shapes on a light grey background. Both a cotton poplin and cotton ripstop version have been documented.

• Another urban camouflage pattern with a blue colorway of true DPM design is seen here. As with the design above, this pattern is worn by both the Nepalese Police Force and the Armed Police, and is similar to that worn by many Persian Gulf states.