The M90 camouflage is the
camouflage
Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the ...
pattern for the uniform system 90, used by the
Swedish Armed Forces
The Swedish Armed Forces ( sv, Försvarsmakten, "the Defense Force") is the government agency that forms the armed forces of Sweden, tasked with the defense of the country as well as with promoting Sweden's wider interests, supporting internati ...
. The pattern consists of hard lined geometric shapes, aiming to create a camouflage pattern effective in the temperate forests and plains of Sweden. It is affectionately known among Swedish soldiers as ''lövhögen'', or "the leaf pile." In addition to the standard pattern, which was designed with Swedish forests in mind,
desert
A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...
and
winter
Winter is the coldest season of the year in polar and temperate climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Different cultures ...
variants were later developed.
History
FOA camouflage
The forerunner of the M90 uniform pattern was a vehicle camouflage known as the FOA camouflage, in reference to the
military research institute that developed it.
The Swedish government had decided in the 1960s to fund and develop a domestic camouflage design, instead of copying a pattern used by another nation. This was in part to guarantee maximum effectiveness in Swedish terrain, but also to ensure that the Swedish Armed Forces would use a recognizably Swedish design. The intent was to establish the new pattern as national symbol, in the hope that it could be helpful in making citizens identify with the armed forces.
Work on the vehicle camouflage pattern was carried out in the 1970s by FOA scientists through a process of extensive testing and experimentation, including
aerial photography
Aerial photography (or airborne imagery) is the taking of photographs from an aircraft or other airborne platforms. When taking motion pictures, it is also known as aerial videography.
Platforms for aerial photography include fixed-wing aircra ...
missions and field trials. When the pattern was rolled out in the 1970s, it became known as "FOA camouflage," reflecting its origin.
Early use of the FOA camouflage on Swedish aircraft, especially the
AJ-37 Viggen, also led to it being referred to as ''Viggenkamouflage.'' Swedish military doctrine at the time assumed a defensive war against the superior forces of the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
, which made it too risky for jets to remain on their peacetime bases. Instead, they would be dispersed across small rural landing strips and pre-positioned depots where they could be serviced by mobile teams, which required a camouflage designed for hiding in forested locations.
M90 Uniform Camouflage
For the ordinary soldier, Sweden retained its old single-colored field uniforms, the dark olive green M59 (summer) and the all-grey M58 (winter), long after other Western nations developed uniform camouflage. Only in the 1980s was a decision taken to readapt the vehicle-size FOA pattern, which had been designed to avoid detection by aerial and satellite photography, for use on personal uniforms, which would primarily aim to avoid detection by the naked eye and by binocular. This required a redesign of the pattern.
FOA scientists were again called on to lead the project, redesigning the pattern slightly and reducing its scale by a proportion of 1:66 to fit the entire pattern onto a human torso. Despite the downscaling, the process nevertheless produced a camouflage pattern with what remains an unusually large and "clean" set of colored fields, in comparison with other nations' camouflage designs. In part, this reflected Swedish operational concerns. According to Hans Kariis, an expert at
FOI, which is the successor to FOA: "If you look at American or German patterns, they're very small. This has to do with the M90 pattern being adapted to the type of combat envisioned at the time. Our pattern works pretty well in forest and mixed
måbrutenterrain, where distances are at a scale of about one kilometer. The Americans are thinking about urban combat, in a city where distances are 10 to 100 meters."
The M90 uniform pattern was ultimately introduced in active service in the late 1980s, and had been adapted by the entire force by the late 1990s.
As Sweden had been a latecomer to camouflage uniforms, the system was considered to be quite advanced for its time and, according to the Swedish army, it remains effective three decades later. Among other things, M90 uniforms are treated to ensure a low visibility when faced with night-time detection gear such as near-
infrared
Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...
spectrum equipment.
However, while vehicle camouflage such as the FOA pattern had a proven value as a protection overhead and long-distance reconnaissance, the effectiveness of personal camouflage is in some dispute. According to experts, the old all-green M59 uniforms often provided similar levels of protection against detection as the camouflage-patterned M90. "It depends on the environment you're in," according to Kariis. "In some cases
he M90is better: the pattern breaks up contours and makes it more difficult to spot the contour of a human being. In many other cases the pattern is of equal value to single-color."
Copyright Protections
The M90 was not copyrighted by the Swedish government until 2020, and, over the years, it became available on a variety of commercial clothing and other products.
To some experts, commercial use of the M90 was advantageous for the Swedish military, since it allowed personnel to acquire complementary nonstandard civilian gear when necessary, without abandoning the M90 pattern. Others have countered that the proliferation of non-official M90 products has diluted the symbolic value of the pattern, defeating one of its original purposes – and possibly even raising infiltration risks in the field.
In 2017, a collaborative Nordic government project was launched to jointly acquire standardized uniforms for the
Norwegian
Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to:
*Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe
* Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway
* Demographics of Norway
*The Norwegian language, including ...
, Swedish,
Finnish
Finnish may refer to:
* Something or someone from, or related to Finland
* Culture of Finland
* Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland
* Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people
* Finnish cuisine
See also ...
, and
Danish
Danish may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark
People
* A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark
* Culture of Denmark
* Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...
armed forces, although it was decided that each country would use its own camouflage pattern. As part of this process, Sweden deliberated whether to update the M90 pattern and, simultaneously, acquire copyright protections for the new version. In October 2020, the Swedish Patent and Registration Office registered a protected version of the pattern in three iterations: standard/forest, khaki/desert, and winter. The only change to the old pattern was the addition of small, scattered
three crowns
Three Crowns ( sv, tre kronor, links=no) is the national emblem of Sweden, present in the coat of arms of Sweden, and composed of three yellow or gilded coronets ordered two above and one below, placed on a blue background. Similar designs are f ...
symbols.
Uniform Models
![M90K Camo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/M90K_Camo.jpg)
The uniform is available in several different models.
* M90F: the F stands for ''Fält'', Field, and this is the standard uniform for general issue throughout the Swedish armed forces.
* M90P: the P stands for ''Pansar'', Armour, and this model is issued to armoured vehicle crews. It features padding on elbows and knees, suspenders, a shorter jacket, ankle pockets and penholders on the sleeves. It is also made from a heavier material providing better fire protection.
* M90H: the H stands for ''Helikopter'',
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...
. This is the model issued to helicopter crews. The jacket is bright orange on the inside.
The changing missions for the Swedish armed forces, with a heavier emphasis on missions abroad, has led to two new models.
* M90L: Mostly used in peacetime for domestic indoor and summer use. The L stands for ''Lätt'', Light. This uniform is made from thinner fabrics and buttons for rolling up the sleeves.
* M90TR (Tropik) For forces working in rain forest environments. Similar in appearance to the M90L but the fabric is even thinner and with more subdued colours.
* M90TR BE (Tropik Beige) (
Khaki
The color khaki (, ) is a light shade of tan with a slight yellowish tinge.
Khaki has been used by many armies around the world for uniforms and equipment, particularly in arid or desert regions, where it provides camouflage relative to sandy ...
) For forces working in desert environments. Similar to the M90TR but with the splinter pattern in desert colours. The M90TR BE system also includes a
smock because nights in desert environments can be very cold.
*M90K or ökenkamouflage (Desert) is for forces operating in Afghanistan and surrounding areas. It uses warm greys, beige, and browns to create an effective camouflage.
See also
*
Swedish Military Uniform
The Swedish Armed Forces have an extensive history, during which it has undergone changes in both the equipment and military uniforms it uses.
The present combat uniforms used by the Swedish military uses the M90 camouflage pattern. The M90 unif ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:M90 (Camouflage)
Camouflage patterns
Military camouflage
Military equipment introduced in the 1970s