Sweden

The Kingdom of Sweden

Sweden has a long history of camouflage design, dating back to the 1940s. The earliest patterns were primarily intended to cover vehicles and artillery pieces, although the shelter quarter was also in use, mostly likely influenced by German designs. Nevertheless, the standard combat uniform of the Swedish Armed Forces remained plain forest green until the very late 1980s. Although several camouflage designs were introduced for trials, in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, none were ever officially adopted. It was only in 1990 that the M90 splinter camouflage pattern was finally introduced, a design that remains in use today.

Swedish Camouflage Patterns

• Introduced in the 1940s, the blotch or puzzle pattern camouflage design seen below was printed on fabrics and primarily employed as covers for military vehicles and artillery pieces.

• The design printed on the helmet cover below dates to the 1950s, and was employed by Coastal Artillery units.

• Illustrated below is the Quartershelter four-color camouflage pattern introduced during the 1950s. The general term for this type of item in Swedish is knäppetält (button tent), and an interesting feature of the Swedish version was that an almost unlimited number of shelters could be fastened togehter to create smaller or large sized tents, depending on the needs of soldiers. The design consists of large, non-overlapping patches of blue-green, dark brown, light brown & grey. Although never produced as a combat uniform, the shelter did serve a dual purpose as a camouflage poncho. Information from Swedish sources suggests these shelters saw continued use through the 1970s, with limited employment into the 1980s and possibly 1990s as well.

• Originally developed by the Försvarets forskningsanstalt (Swedish Defense Research Institute) or FOA in the 1970s for use on vehicles, aircraft, netting, and tarpaulins, the M90 "splinter" pattern was introduced in 1989 for printing on a camouflage combat uniform worn by Swedish armed forces personnel. As the original FOA pattern was rather large in scale, being intended to obscure vehicles and installations from aerial identification), the design was reduced in scale to function adequately in heavy Swedish forests and obscure location of troops at distances up to one kilometer. If the M/90 pattern appears to have been influenced by German WW2 designs such as Splittermuster (splinter pattern), it is because research developers examined many German camouflage patterns in the postwar period, taking the best ideas and incorporating them into their tests. The Swedish pattern has dark green, dark olive green & moss green splinter shapes on a khaki background, and is nicknamed Lövhögen in Sweden, where it has become a kind of national symbol.

• Introduced in 2004, the M90K pattern is a variation of the standard M90 splinter pattern and the standard pattern worn by Swedish military contingents serving in desert regions. The Swedes have nicknamed it Ökenkammo.

• An arctic or snow variation of the M90 camouflage design is also being fielded by Swedish personnel as a kind of oversuit. The equipment in this pattern is distributed by Taiga AB and designated "Taiga Snow UV Print" or TSUP.

• Members of the Särskilda Oprations Gruppen (SOG) or Swedish Special Operations Group have used Multicam pattern camouflage uniforms and equipment since 2016.

Experimental Swedish Camouflage Patterns

• Illustrated below are examples of two patterns introduced around 1953, possibly for consideration as vehicle covers. These were also produced as Maskeringsärm (masking sleeves), which were individual coverings for the arms - probably intended for use by reconnaissance or scout personnel - no doubt worn over normal combat clothing.

• Featuring some similar shapes but having a completely alternative color scheme, the pattern seen here was tested for use on combat clothing, but - again - never adopted.

• A three-color pattern tested by the Swedish Armed Forces is seen here, printed on heavy fabric for combat clothing. This design combines large swaths of russet brown, blue-green, and sea green, in some places overlapping to create a darker fourth color. This design was purely experimental and never adopted.

• Dating to around 1960, the Swedish firm Barracuda developed a camouflage that was tested by the Ministry of Defense. A complicated design, it incorporates dark green, light olive green & pale green splinter shapes with an overprinted pattern of circular spots in dark green, light olive green, pale green & orange-tan. Produced as a trial version of the M59 combat uniform as well as on netting for vehicles, the pattern was never adopted. Variations for desert and artic/snow conditions were also produced.

Photos of Swedish Camouflage in Use

Notes

I would like to acknowledge the Swedish Army Museum (Armémuseum) in Stockholm, for preserving its excellent collection of experimental and trial camouflage patterns and uniforms, many of which are featured on this page.