It is made up of a base pattern of light tan overlaid with broad swathes of pale green and wide two-tone bands of brown.

The U.S. Army, believing that it might one day become necessary to intervene in the Arab–Israeli conflicts, developed a test pattern using the deserts of the southwestern United States as a model.

Rapid Deployment Force (RDF) in 1979, with its remit to operate in the Middle East, and protect U.S. interests in the Persian Gulf region, saw the need for desert camouflage clothing to emerge again.

Like the Army, the DBDU was seldom issued whenever Marines were deployed to participate in the "Bright Star" exercises, but became their standard arid combat uniform by 1985.

First issued in 1982 for their participation and deployments to arid regions, the DBDU became the United States Air Forces primary desert uniform from 1982 to 1993.

The six-color desert pattern entered service in 1981 at the same time as the woodland BDUs and would be worn in limited numbers by U.S. troops taking part in the biennial Bright Star exercises in Egypt during the 1980s, and by FORSCOM peacekeepers assigned to the Multinational Force and Observers in the Egyptian Sinai Desert, but was not issued in large numbers prior to the Persian Gulf War.

Anecdotal evidence suggested that the dark areas of the pattern warmed up more than the paler parts under desert sunlight, and retained the heat longer.

Samples of sand and earth from the Middle East were measured for optical and infrared reflectance, and seven trial patterns were created using these statistics.

The resulting "Desert Camouflage Pattern: Combat" was standardized in 1990, but was not ready before troops deployed to Saudi Arabia during the Persian Gulf War.