Last year we looked at the first pattern of Irish Army UBACS shirt, which featured a chest panel printed in the distinctive Irish disruptive pattern of camouflage. This early pattern of UBACS was found to have a problem once it had been in service for some time. The screen printing of the camouflage on the chest panel was insufficiently robust and it wore off very quickly. In response to this, the pattern was updated with a plain chest panel instead:

The chest panel was produced in a light tan self-wicking fabric, and the high zipped collar was retained to allow it to be worn comfortably under body armour without a collar getting in the way, but unzipped for ventilation when required:

The fabric chosen for the other parts of the shirt has also been updated and is now a rip-stop type of fabric with a distinctive criss-cross grid of reinforcing threads to prevent the fabric from ripping as easily if caught on something. Here it can be seen on the lower arms, note also the tab and pair of buttons on the cuffs to allow the sleeves to be drawn in:

The rear of each forearm has a full length pocket, secured by Velcro, which allows padding to be added if required:

A pair of pockets are sewn to the sleeves, each angles and with a velcroed top flap. A Piece of loop tape is sewn to the outside of the pocket to allow insignia to be attached or removed as required:

Most soldiers are issued four national flags for wear on uniforms, a mixture of full colour and subdued and they can be found as either embroidered or rubberised patterns. The label inside the shirt indicates it was made by the Belgian firm Seyntex in 2016:

Irish soldiers have reported that the sizing on the UBACS shirts seems to be a little small, especially in the arms if the wearer is particularly muscular so it is advised they get a size larger than they would normally wear to ensure it is comfortable and not too tight. In the Irish Army the UBACS is seen very much as combat clothing and not to be worn around barracks, but only on operations or training and it is not issued to new recruits, only being used once a soldier makes it to his regiment. Like all Irish camouflage kit, these UBACS are highly sought after, especially as the Irish Army does not sell its surplus kit in Ireland and it is not easy to obtain overseas. UBACS shirts have an additional degree of ‘allyness’ especially amongst the airsoft community so the combination of rarity and design make these very popular and a number of copies have been produced over the years, although genuine ones will have Seyntex labels in them.