M05 (Camouflage)

The M05 family of military camouflage patterns are used by the Finnish Defence Forces on uniforms and other equipment. The pattern is licenced by the FDF and it is not available to the public. The first M05 items were taken in use around 2007, and are slowly replacing the M91 pattern in service use.

(Note: There are no official English language names for the patterns or equipment. The names are made up for reference.)

M05 Woodland Pattern

The basis of the planning of the new pattern are various photographs of Finnish forests taken by the Finnish Forest Research Institute. The photographs were then digitally edited by the Finnish State Technical Research Center's Information Technology Institute and concentrated into a 4-colour pattern representative of a Finnish forest.Black, or in a matter of fact dark carbon grey, was added to the pattern in order to represent shadowed areas in a forest.

The pattern was field tested several times, leading to small changes. The new pattern was considered to be significantly better than the old M62 and M91 camouflage patterns.

The woodland pattern is used on at least the following FDF equipment:

* M05 Camouflage uniform
* M05 Field cap
* M05 Fragmentation vest
* M05 Personal camouflage net
* M05 Reversible helmet cover
* M05 Rain/NBC suit
* M04 Woodland hot weather uniform (In use by some international forces)
* M05 Boonie hat
* M05 Gore-tex suit for special forces
* M05 Patrol overall for special forces

M05 Snow Pattern

The snow pattern is a 2-colour version of the M05 woodland pattern. The pattern has been observed to disrupt a soldier's profile so that the new suit cannot be detected at a few tens of meters' distance in dense snowfall.

The snow pattern is used on the following FDF equipment:

* M05 Snow suit
* M05 Reversible helmet cover

M05 Cold Weather Pattern

On the cold weather suit (Pakkaspuku) the woodland pattern's light green colour has been replaced by grey, which is a more common colour in the autumn and winter.

The cold weather pattern is used on the following FDF equipment:

* M05 Cold weather suit
* M05 Fur hat

M05 Urban Camouflage Pattern

At the same time Finnish Defence Forces made new grey-brown camouflage pattern for urban areas, but it is not yet used in clothing or gear.

References

ources

* [http://www.mil.fi/laitokset/tiedotteet/2726.dsp Puolustusvoimat ottaa käyttöön uuden taistelijan varustuksen]
* [http://www.mil.fi/maavoimat/kalustoesittely/index.dsp?level=66&equipment=62 Taistelijan vaatetusvarustus m05]