On 30 December, at a regular press conference held by the Ministry of National Defense, Senior Colonel Tan Kefei, spokesman for the National Defense, announced that with the approval of the Central Military Commission, starting this winter, the whole army has successively changed its Type 21 training uniforms and operational uniforms. Asked by netizens about the “explosion” of the new Internet celebrity 21-style training uniform and work clothes, finally showed his true face——
The Type 21 training uniform mainly includes camouflage training uniforms, special service training uniforms and combat boots, which are used for combat, training, combat readiness, duty, and non-war military operations. Camouflage training uniforms distinguish jungle, desert and other colors; Special service training uniforms include ship, air and ground service training uniforms to meet the needs of personnel in special positions; Combat boots (shoes) distinguish between general and special. Type 21 work uniform is a new series of military uniform adjustment and optimization of our army, using jacket style design, distinguishing spring, autumn and winter work uniforms, using new military colors, matching large (rolled) brimmed hats, work uniforms leather shoes and other varieties, used for office and other general daily activities. It is understood that the Type 21 work uniform is the first time it has been distributed to the whole army; The Type 21 training uniform is a new generation of camouflage training uniform. So, what is the history of the development of our army’s training uniforms? Training uniform is the standard clothing worn by soldiers when fighting, training, labor and performing other duties, also known as combat uniform. It is usually divided into ordinary training uniforms and camouflage training uniforms. Ordinary training uniforms are generally distinguished according to the branches of the military, and some countries also have military services as training uniforms. The camouflage training uniform has color, pattern and spectral reflection characteristics suitable for the combat background, and has the performance of anti-visible light, low-light night vision and near-infrared light. According to the different combat areas and seasons, camouflage training uniforms are divided into woodland, desert, desert, snow, ocean, city and mountain and other types, and when soldiers perform reconnaissance, latent, charging and interspersed combat missions, camouflage training uniforms have the effect of concealing the true and false, reducing the probability of discovery and reducing casualties. At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the armies of some European and American countries began to be equipped with combat uniforms. At the end of the 2020s, the earliest camouflage clothing appeared. At the end of World War II, many national armies were equipped with camouflage uniforms. Since the 80s of the last century, the armies of various countries have begun to generally distribute camouflage training uniforms that meet the needs of their own armed forces. After the founding of New China, due to economic and other conditions, for a long time, our army’s military uniforms were a single standard, dresses were not universally distributed, and there were no special training uniforms.
Fighters in camouflage nets in the mid-50s of the last century took part in exercises
In the late 60s of last century, soldiers were doing tactical actions, in the late 70s, our army began to develop and produce training uniforms, and in the late 70s of last century, in accordance with the instructions of the Central Military Commission, our army carried out a reform of military uniforms focusing on reducing the weight of the quilt. It mainly reforms from four aspects: one is to separate regular clothes from training uniforms, the second is to improve the production process of quilts, the third is to use new materials, and the fourth is to revise the distribution standards. On January 12, 1978, the General Logistics Department officially reported the reform plan for munitions and quilts. The first item of the program is training uniforms: the current clothing is used as regular clothing, and the training uniform is added, with lapel snap-fit in winter and lapel open in summer, made of cotton blend, with padded cloth on the elbows, trouser knees, and hips. Color: Army grass green, navy navy blue, air force grass green and navy blue. On January 18, 1978, the Central Military Commission approved the clothing reform plan, called the Type 78 military uniform, and put it into production. The Type 78 uniforms were improved and added to a total of 31 quilt varieties. In the actual trial production and production process of the Type 78 military uniform, because the time was relatively hasty at that time, there were some problems in technology, equipment, materials and other aspects, and 10 varieties such as summer training uniforms and winter training uniforms were stopped or changed in the middle due to unreasonable design and insufficient demonstration, and no troops were equipped. Although the Type 78 training uniform was not finalized and produced, it accumulated experience for the subsequent Type 87 training uniform. From the late 70s to the mid-80s of last century, in response to the needs of tropical jungle and mountain operations, our army successively developed two camouflage uniforms, namely Type 81 and Type 85 camouflage suits, and from the design to the finalization process, it has successively tried on single-sided camouflage, double-sided camouflage, large five-leaf camouflage, small four-leaf camouflage, hooded and mask versions. However, it did not equip the whole army, and it was only installed in a small area in some front-line combat units, with a certain degree of trial nature.
Warrior in Type 81 camouflage suit
The concealment effect of the Type 81 camouflage suit in the grass In 1985, after the whole army changed to the Type 85 uniform, the original Type 65 military uniform, including the liberation cap, was retained and worn as a training uniform, but it was only used as an old thing, not a specially developed training uniform. The Type 87 ordinary training uniform and camouflage training uniform The first training uniform commonly equipped by our army is the Type 87 training uniform that was customized in 1987, which is divided into two types: ordinary training uniform and camouflage training uniform. Ordinary training uniforms are divided into military services and summer and winter, which are characterized by compact structure, beautiful style, comfortable wearing, light and durable, and adapt to tactical and technical activities and equipment operation. The top of the summer training uniform is jacket-style, with a switch collar, a zipper and 4 door nails at the front, 2 chest pockets with zippers and 2 lower patch pockets, a zippered diagonal slip pocket outside the patch pocket, an arm pocket at the upper end of the right sleeve, a logo loop at the upper end of the left sleeve, and an elastic adjustment band at the hem. The trousers are loose-fitting Western-style trousers with two concealed patch pockets in the front and two patch pockets at the back of the trousers, and adjustable buckle tabs at the cuffs. The training cap is a soft standing hat wall with a wide brim, an adjustment strap at the back of the cap wall, and a set of decorative buckles on each side. The color, the army is grass green, the navy is navy blue, and the air force is grass green and the lower navy blue, made of polyester cotton flat cloth. The cockade is made of soft plastic, which is easy to conceal and wear a steel helmet. The winter training uniform top has a switch collar, loose fit, 2 asymmetrical chest patch pockets (left chest with lid pocket, right chest vertical zipper pocket) and 2 lower diagonal patch pockets, arm pockets at the upper end of the right sleeve, logo loops at the upper end of the left sleeve, and adjustable drawstrings at the hem and cuffs. The trousers are loose-fitting Western-style pants with two patch pockets at the front and two patch pockets at the front and back and adjustable drawstrings at the cuffs. The color is the same as the summer training uniform, made of polyester cotton khaki. The cold layer of winter training hats and winter training uniforms is the same as winter hats, tight cotton coats, and velvet clothes of winter regular clothing.
Naval female cadets wearing Type 87 naval summer training uniforms boarded ships and went to sea, and the Type 87 camouflage training uniforms, developed in the late 80s, are divided into summer and winter, and the styles and materials are the same as ordinary training uniforms. In summer, woodland camouflage is used as a training uniform, consisting of four colors: bright green, dark green, brown and black; In winter, the desert camouflage training uniform consists of four colors: sand, light green, brown and black. The whole army was equipped with Type 87 uniforms in October 1988, but it was not equipped with training uniforms at the same time. Although it is called the Type 87 training uniform, it was successively equipped in the 90s. In May 1991, summer training uniforms were equipped. May 1993 equipped winter training uniform. In May 1994, the summer training uniform was replaced by the summer camouflage training uniform. In May 1996, the summer camouflage training uniform and the winter training uniform were improved, and the top was changed to two patch pockets on the upper and lower sides.
Army soldier wearing Type 87 summer camouflage training uniform
In March 1996, the army, navy and air force of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) held a live-fire exercise in the Taiwan Strait for joint operations. The picture shows the Air Force anti-aircraft artillery unit with the Type 87 summer camouflage training uniform Chinese the People’s Armed Police Force equipped the Armed Police Type 87 training uniform in the early 90s, which is divided into summer training uniform, winter training uniform, and summer camouflage uniform. Among them, the winter and summer training uniforms are olive green jackets, and the style is basically the same as the PLA 87-style training uniform. The fabric of summer camouflage clothing is woodland camouflage cloth. Among them, in 1990, it was equipped with the Type 87 summer training uniform of the Armed Police, in 1993 it was equipped with the Type 87 winter training uniform of the Armed Police, and in 1994 it was equipped with the Type 87 jungle camouflage training uniform of the Armed Police.
Since the late 90s, our army has also been equipped with some special camouflage training uniforms for the summer training uniforms of the armed police. Marine camouflage training uniforms are mainly distributed to the Marine Corps, naval aviation and naval officers and men stationed on islands and reefs. Airborne troops camouflage uniform, also known as urban camouflage uniform, in 1999, the 50th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China parade the airborne troops wore this type of camouflage uniform. According to the needs of the mission, the army special forces have also issued a variety of models of special operations camouflage training uniforms in a small area. The armed police force has been equipped with Type 97, Type 99, Type 01, Type 05 and other improved training uniforms.
Marine Corps platoon at the military parade marking the 50th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1999
In 1999, the airborne troops at the military parade marking the 50th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China used the Type 07 digital camouflage training uniform, and in 2007, the whole army was equipped with the Type 07 digital camouflage training uniform. Summer is divided into universal camouflage (woodland camouflage), urban camouflage, marine camouflage as training uniforms, the style is Parker-style, 6 hidden buttons, 2 upper patch pockets, 2 lower digging bags, loose hems, straight sleeves; The material is wear-resistant fine twill. In winter, desert camouflage training uniform, the style is Parker-style, concealed zipper double protective structure, 2 upper patch pockets, 2 lower digging pockets, elastic cuffs; The material is wear-resistant denim. In addition to the warm layer that is connected to the winter uniform, the winter training uniform is also equipped with camouflage training coats, training shoes, combat boots, etc.
Female health soldiers wearing woodland camouflage uniforms participate in the joint military exercise
Border guards wearing desert camouflage as training uniforms
In the early days of the Airborne Forces wearing Type 07 urban camouflage uniforms, the army, air force and former Second Artillery Corps were issued woodland camouflage training uniforms and desert camouflage training uniforms, the airborne troops were issued urban camouflage training uniforms, the Marine Corps and island and reef units were issued marine camouflage training uniforms, and the ship troops were issued blue training uniforms (its style and structure are consistent with camouflage training uniforms). At the same time, the armed police force is equipped with Type 07 armed police training uniforms, including 14 varieties such as training caps, digital camouflage uniforms, and combat boots.
In January 2008, 21 provinces across the country were hit by severe rain, snow and freeze. The People’s Armed Police Force has invested more than 60,000 troops to fight rain, snow and freezing disasters. The picture shows that the armed police soldiers in the Type 07 camouflage uniform have adjusted the varieties of military arms as training uniforms since 2014, with the approval of the Central Military Commission, forming camouflage training uniforms according to military branches, of which: the navy, all marine camouflage training uniforms (replacing blue training uniforms); Air Force, all issued with urban camouflage training uniforms; The former Second Artillery Corps were all issued jungle camouflage as training uniforms. Since 2014, the Armed Police Special Service Detachment has been equipped with Type 13 armed police special combat uniforms.
Marine Corps camouflage as a training uniform
The former Second Artillery Corps (Rocket Force) jungle camouflage training uniform
Type 13 armed police special combat uniform
The 2019 National Day Parade of the Armed Police Special Service Detachment on the Zhu Rihe Parade Ground displayed five new camouflage uniforms in 2019, and at the military parade celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, 32 equipment teams closely followed by the foot team, whether they were generals and ordinary soldiers, all wore new camouflage training uniforms. At the front of the equipment team is the Battle Flag Team. Under the guidance of the commanders of the five major theaters, the “fierce” car carrying 100 honorary battle flags slowly drove through the front of Tiananmen Square. The leaders of the five major theaters: three generals and two lieutenant generals, each wearing five kinds of camouflage as training uniforms, and even the command vehicle they ride on is sprayed with these five kinds of camouflage.
The commanders and fighters of the battle flag team wore new camouflage uniforms to appear in the new camouflage uniforms launched by the parade, which were called “starry sky camouflage” by the media, and their flower patterns and colors were newly designed, with a total of five colors such as woodland, desert, jungle, city and desert, which can adapt to the use needs of various terrains and landforms at home and abroad. At the regular press conference of the Ministry of National Defense on October 31, 2019, Wu Qian, director of the Information Bureau of the Ministry of National Defense and spokesman of the Ministry of National Defense, said: In order to meet the requirements of national defense and military reform and better meet the needs of combat readiness training of troops, we have optimized and improved the color, style, fabric and logo clothing based on the Type 07 camouflage uniform, developed and designed a new camouflage uniform, and unveiled it in this military parade celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
Officers and men of the peacekeeping force are dressed in new desert camouflage
A special combat unit of the Airborne Forces wore the “Starry Sky Camouflage” Type 87 training and served for 16 years from 1991 to 2007; The Type 07 training was equipped for 14 years from 2007 to 2021. During this period, many styles of camouflage training uniforms frequently appeared in military parades and military exercises, but they were not actually put on and were still in the trial stage. Therefore, from the perspective of the formal equipment of the whole army, the Type 21 training uniform is the third generation of our army’s training uniform after the Type 87 training uniform and the Type 07 training uniform. The new generation of training uniform equipment is of great significance for building a new era military uniform system with the characteristics of our army and better serving the preparation for war.
Editor: Zhenglong
Source: China Military Network