Flora camouflage

Flora camouflage
Flora camouflage pattern
Type	Military camouflage pattern
Place of origin	Russian Federation
Service history
In service	1998-?
Used by	Russian Armed Forces
Wars	Second Chechen War Russo-Georgian War War in Donbas

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 and was replaced in service in 2009 by EMR camouflage.

History

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, but there was no official name, so popular nicknames like "vertikalka" (vertical), "berezka" (birch), VSR-93 and so on appeared.

"Flora" was adopted into the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in 1998. The pattern is optimised for an environment typical of central Russia and is effective at silhouette dissolution. 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 name came from the book "Camouflage Uniforms of the Soviet Union and Russia: 1937-Present" by Dennis Desmond.

Developed in the late 1990s, it has some similarities with the Soviet "Butan" camo, "Barvikha" and the American "Tiger".

Design

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

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

Users

• Belarus
• Russia : Used by all branches of Russian Armed Forces.
• Tajikistan

Partially-recognized states

• Donetsk People's Republic
• Luhansk People's Republic