The Special Purpose Suit is a ballistic-resistant uniform worn by Viper operatives in ArmA 3. It was added with the release of the Apex DLC.
Overview
A next-generation combat uniform manufactured in the People's Republic of China, the Special Purpose Suit is designed to give the wearer an edge in battle thanks to the usage of thermal masking materials.
When combined with the Special Purpose Helmet, the user will become virtually undetectable on both infrared sensors and thermal optics. Compared to regular fatigues worn by conventional CSAT soldiers, the Special Purpose Suit is rated at Level III standards and offers superior protection from small arms fire.
The wearer's neck, pelvis, abdomen, diaphragm, chest, arms, hands and legs are all covered by the suit. Aside from the neck, all other parts retain base armour values of 16 (the neck has a value of 12). The pelvis, abdomen, diaphragm and chest armour each apply a 67% damage reduction modifier to incoming gunfire while the arms, legs and hands reduce it by 30%. Lastly, the neck retains the lowest damage reduction modifier (20%) but compensates by reducing explosive damage by 50%.
The only drawback of the Special Purpose Suit stems from its extreme stamina cost and limited carrying capacity. Unloaded, the suit itself consumes 120 "mass" but only provides enough space for just 20 units of ammunition/gear; barely enough for two rifle magazines. Needless to say, wearing either a backpack or harness to compensate for the lack of innate storage is absolutely neccessary.
Camouflage
- Hex: Arid Hexacam camouflage pattern. Used by Viper operatives in the Mediterranean and North African regions.
- Green Hex: Tropic Hexacam camouflage pattern. Used by Viper operatives in the Pacific region.
Achievements
- With Mark of the Serpent
- Have the player's avatar in the Virtual Arsenal equip either camouflage variant of the outfit. Wearing the (optional) helmet is not required to unlock it.
Trivia
- The Special Purpose Suit is completely fictional and is not directly based on any real-world design.
- However, several elements appear to be loosely drawn from numerous concept/prototype designs for Western and Eastern military Future Soldier programmes alike (i.e. Revision Military's "Kinetic Operations Suit" or the 2040s/2050s iterations of the Russian military's "Ratnik" programme).
