Wikipedia

Flora camouflage

Flora (Russian: Флора, sometimes erroneously called VSR-98) is a military camouflage pattern formerly used by the Russian Armed Forces. It was adopted in 1998.[1]

Flora camouflage
Flora camouflage pattern
TypeMilitary camouflage pattern
Place of originRussian Federation
Service history
In service1998-2011
Used bySee Users
WarsSecond Chechen War
Russo-Georgian War
War in Donbas

The pattern has some design similarities with the Butan and Tiger stripe camo.[1]

History

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A. Kolmakov, commander of Russian VDV forces (right), in Flora camouflage receiving a report from a soldier in Dubok camouflage. The soldier on the left and the troops in the background are wearing Zabralo armor in Barviha camouflage. 2004.

Flora came as a replacement for the “Barvikha” camouflage - the name of the R&D program. The pattern did not have an official name, so popular nicknames like "vertikalka" (vertical), berezka (birch), VSR-93 and so on appeared.[2]

Flora was adopted into the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in 1998.

The camo was last seen with so-called pro-Moscow Crimean auxiliaries during the Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation[3] and with some Russsian troops in the War in Donbas.[4]

Design

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Flora is optimised for an environment typical of central Russia and is effective at silhouette dissolution.[5] Because of the characteristic stripes, "Flora" was nicknamed "Arbuznyj" (watermelony; арбузный) camouflage. It is also known by the erroneous designation VSR-98, which stands for Vooruzhennyye sily Rossii or Russian Armed Forces 1998. This came from the book "Camouflage Uniforms of the Soviet Union and Russia: 1937-Present" by Dennis Desmond.[citation needed]

The overall color scheme can vary widely depending on the fabric used by the manufacturer.[6]

"Flora" consists of the green Flora pattern and the Mountain Flora pattern, which has dark yellow, sand or khaki color.[7]

Users

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Former

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Russian paratroopers wearing Flora camouflage
  •   Belarus: Replaced by EMR.[8]
  •   Russia: Formerly used by all branches of Russian Armed Forces.[9] Replaced by EMR by 2011.[10][11] However, some are still used by military educational institutes[1] and some Russian soldiers in Ukraine.[4]
  •   Tajikistan: Adopted EMR to replace Flora.[12]

Partially-recognized states

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Donetsk's Vostok Battalion wearing Flora during the rehearsal for the 2015 Victory Parade in Donetsk

References

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  1. ^ a b c https://camo.by/camo/ru/flora.html
  2. ^ "Флора (камуфляж)". Archived from the original on 10 July 2021.
  3. ^ Galeotti (2019), pp. 14–15.
  4. ^ a b Galeotti (2019), pp. 32–33.
  5. ^ "Камуфляж - виды и расцветки стран мира | Интернет проект Я выживу". i-survive.ru. Retrieved 2024-02-04.
  6. ^ "Russia - Camopedia". camopedia.org. Retrieved 2024-02-04.[better source needed]
  7. ^ "Russian Camo: what camouflage does Russia use?".
  8. ^ https://camo.by/camo/ru/emr.html
  9. ^ https://kula-tactical.com/military-camouflage-patterns/russian-camouflages/flora-camo
  10. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20150122121359/http://function.mil.ru/news_page/country/more.htm?id=10371371@egNews
  11. ^ https://ufpro.com/blog/europes-official-camouflage-patterns
  12. ^ Larson (2021), p. 328.
  13. ^ Crowther (2022), p. 67.

Bibliography

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  • Crowther, Edward (2022). War in Ukraine: Volume 1: Armed Formations of the Donetsk People’s Republic, 2014-2022. Helion and Company. ISBN 978-1915070661.
  • Galeotti, Mark (2019). Armies Of Russia's War In Ukraine. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1472833440.
  • Larson, Eric H. (2021). Camouflage: International Ground Force Patterns, 1946–2017. Barnsley: Pen & Sword. ISBN 9781526739537.
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