The original "Scorpion" pattern was developed by a joint venture of the Army's Natick Labs and Crye Precision as part of the Objective Force Warrior (OFW) program more than a decade prior.

In early April 2015, Army Chief of Staff Ray Odierno revealed that OCP uniforms were beginning to be issued to deployed soldiers going to Afghanistan, Iraq, Europe, and the Horn of Africa.

[6] The finalists in the Army's Phase IV camouflage testing were Crye Precision; ADS Inc. and Hyperstealth Inc.; Brookwood Companies Inc.; and Kryptek Inc.[7] The 2014 National Defense Authorization Act (NDA or NDAA), prevents any service from adopting a new camouflage pattern not already in inventory before the NDA, unless they get all other services to adopt the same pattern.

[5] The ACU patterned in OCP first became available to U.S. Army soldiers on 1 July 2015, at 20 locations in the contiguous United States and in South Korea, with first-day sales exceeding $1.4 million.

Body armor, packs, and pouches in previous UCP and MultiCam patterns will be worn until they can be replaced with OCP.

Unlike the Army, the Air Force uses brown thread for name tapes and rank insignia and have a subdued-color flag patch at all times instead of when on deployment.