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 Finnish Defence Forces 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.

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 (Woodland and Snow patterns)
• M05 Rain/NBC suit
• M05 Woodland Ripstop cloth hot weather uniform for international forces
• M05 Boonie hat
• M05 Gore-tex suit for special forces
• M05 Patrol overall for special forces

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

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On the cold weather suit (Pakkaspuku) the woodland pattern's light green colour has been replaced by grey, which is a more common colour in the autumn and winter.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

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.

Desert camouflage pattern

Originally taken in use before other gear of M05 family and is officially called M04 although pattern has the same basic features and looks as other M05 family patterns. The first M04 items were taken in use around 2003 by Finnish contingent of UN peacekeeping mission in Eritrea (UNMEE) as a test pattern called K2004. K2004 garments were printed in to heavier cloth than current M04 that is printed to Ripstop cloth . Currently the pattern is used by FDF international forces in Afghanistan (ISAF) and in Chad and Central African Republic (MINURCAT).

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

• M04 Desert hot weather uniform
• M04 Desert hot weather uniform shorts
• M04 Desert boonie hat
• M04 Desert field cap
• M05 Reversible helmet cover (Woodland and Desert patterns)

Russian 'lookalike'

The commercially produced Russian 'Yeger' camouflage pattern, first came to public notice during the 2008 South Ossetia war. 'Yeger' is a four-colour camouflage, comprising irregularly outlined black, dark green and light green blocks on a wood brown background. Very similar in appearance to Finnish M05 woodland camouflage pattern.

Indeed, the resemblance between 'Yeger' and M05 woodland has given rise to numerous claims that Russia has copied the Finnish camouflage pattern. The claims were outlined by Helsingin Sanomat in an article titled "Russians under suspicion for having purloined camouflage design of Finnish Defence Forces" and Taloussanomat in couple articles . Also US newspaper The New York Times made a story about the claims November 20 2008 .

According to military camouflage pattern and uniforms collectors page kamouflage.net the resemblance between the two camouflage patterns is undeniable; however, there are also significant differences between them. As an example kamouflage.net gives that:

• There appears to be much more light green in the Russian pattern than there is in the Finnish M05 woodland.
• There is more of the medium green and for that matter the Russian 'Yeger' pattern seems to be overall denser than the Finnish M05 woodland.
• The shapes in the Russian 'Yeger' pattern seem to have more irregular outlines than those seen in M05 woodland

According to kamouflage.net it cannot be said that Russian 'Yeger' is a direct copy of Finnish M05 in the same way that Chinese Type 03 Plateau Camouflage is a direct copy of German Flecktarn, in which case there is a direct correspondence between the shapes of the two camouflage patterns. As and end state kamouflage.net states that, "Russian Yeger pattern is at most an Finnish M05 'lookalike'".

References

1. Licence of M05/M04 Design at site of National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland
2. PV:n uuden helleasun, malli 05, käyttöönotto ja saapuminen toimialueille on viivästynyt
3. Eritreaan lähdössä oleva YKSRJEE ottaa koekäyttöönsä Puolustusvoimien uuden aavikkoasun
4. http://www.mil.fi/ruotuvaki/kuvareportaasit/tsad_reppari.html
5. http://www.mil.fi/ruotuvaki/kuvareportaasit/tsad_reppari.html
6. http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Russians+under+suspicion+for+having+purloined+camouflage+design+of+Finnish+Defence+Forces%E2%80%99+new+combat+outfits/1135241028763
7. http://www.taloussanomat.fi/media/2008/11/21/ny-times-venaja-kiistaa-maastopukukopioinnin/200830137/135?posted=1&article=1#
8. http://www.taloussanomat.fi/myynti/2008/11/11/armeijan-uusi-maastokuvio-karkasi-venajalle/200829059/135
9. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/21/world/europe/21finland.html?_r=2&ref=world
10. http://www.kamouflage.net/camouflage/00261.php
11. http://www.kamouflage.net/camouflage/00261.php

Sources

• Puolustusvoimat ottaa käyttöön uuden taistelijan varustuksen
• Taistelijan vaatetusvarustus m05
• Licence of M05/M04 Design at site of National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland
• Russian Yeger pattern