EMR camouflage

This camouflage appeared in 2008 (accepted for supply a year later),[1] after a fundamental decision was made to change Flora. Initially, it was assumed that since "Flora" roughly corresponds to the American Woodland, which in the US Armed Forces was changed to digital camouflages, then the Russian Armed Forces should keep up with this process. The creation of the EMR was heavily influenced by the German Flektarn camouflage, the developers of which managed to "combine the incompatible": small spots that perform an imitation function are combined in this color scheme so that they form groups of large spots that perform a deforming function.

The developers of EMR followed the same path, taking into account the results of studies that showed the effectiveness of extremely small ("pixel") spots as constituent elements of the texture pattern.[2]

Close up of the EMR camouflage pattern

EMR is a single camouflage pattern, developed at 15 Central Research Institute of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation as a universal pattern, depending on the color, it can be adapted to a variety of terrain conditions, has good camouflage properties and is the main pattern of the Ratnik combat system.[3]

Currently, EMR is the main camouflage used by the Russian Armed Forces. The Armed Forces of Belarus uses it as their standard camouflage. However, it's believed that the Belarusian version of the EMR has a slightly different color scheme.[4]

The name ЕМR (Edinaya Maskirovochnaya Rascvetka) stands for "Unified Camouflage Coloration" (in this sense the word "unified" refers to the fact that it is common to all the armed forces of Russia). However, it is known that the first manufacturer of products with this color gave it the name "ZDU" - "protection until it stops". In the West, this camouflage is known as the "RusPat" (Russian Pattern). The pattern is often referred to as Tsifra, Tetris, DigiFlora[5] or "digital flora."

Several variations of this pattern have been produced, the most common of which is the leto (summer) variant incorporating tiny pixels of black, reddish-brown and foliage green on a pale green background. Other versions include sever (northern regions), zima (winter), and gorod (urban). Full-scale adoption began in 2011.[6]

•  Belarus - Armed Forces of Belarus, with slightly different color scheme.[7]
•  Russia - Russian Armed Forces[8]

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  Russian Army field uniform in current EMR camouflage pattern
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  Russian Minister of Defence, General Sergey Shoigu in field uniform
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  Display of the EMR combat uniform
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  Russian soldier training in their Ratnik combat gear and PMK-4 gas mask
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  Russian Airborne Forces conducting land operations
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  Russian sappers in Palmyra, Syria. Soldier on the left itv wearing the desert variant of the EMR camouflage
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  Another variation of the EMR pattern for use in snowy conditions of the Arctic, seen here with the 80th Independent Brigade