The Swedish Armed Forces have an extensive history, during which it has undergone changes in both the equipment and military uniforms it uses.
The current combat uniform system used by the Swedish military is the Fältuniform M90 (English: Field Uniform M90) and it applies the M90 camouflage pattern.[1]
The m/1906 consisted of a jacket, trousers, greatcoat and a tricorne hat; All in gray except for blue trouser stripes on each side. Both the jacket and greatcoat lacked shoulder straps and had decorative chevron above the sleeves along with branch insignia on the right arm.
The m/1910 was the finalized version of the previous uniform, with minor modifications present. The most notable changes were the addition of shoulder straps, removal of branch insignia on the arm and removal of chevrons from greatcoats. For winter the white m/1909 hat and m/1913 coat were introduced.[2]
After the first world war the new m/1923 uniform was developed, the tricorne was replaced with a new peaked cap and the uniform now had high standing collars and no longer had blue shoulder straps or chevrons.
After the outbreak of the second world war the m/1939 was introduced with a turn down collar instead of the previous high collar designs. Furthermore, m/1940 white ski jacket and trousers were introduced.
The m/1942 KV was the first standard field uniform for women, the design was based on the m/1939 uniform and included an armband which was different depending on the organization they are part of until 1946 when the practice was ended. During the 1950s the m/1957 KV uniform was adopted to compliment the m/1942 KV which included a new blouse, skirt and jacket.[3]
The m/1958 uniform was designed for the use specifically as a winter uniform with its counterpart m/1959 uniform being the summer uniform. Unlike previous uniforms it no longer had shoulder straps thus having the insignias on the collar and instead of two breast pockets the jacket has pockets on the back. Older m/1939 uniforms were commonly resewn as m/1939-58.
Unlike the previous uniforms the m/1959 used green cotton fabric instead of wool for the role of a summer uniform while the overall cut remained similar to the m/1958 uniform. Still there were elements of the m/1959 uniform meant for winter use, specifically the wool lined winter cap and fur lined coat (vindrock)
The m/1970 KV uniform was the women's equivalent of the m/1959 uniform and was used until the adoption of the unisex M90
See main article: M90 (camouflage). The M90 uniform consists of a field jacket (fältjacka), field trousers (fältbyxa), a field cap (fältmössa), and a helmet cover (hjälmdok).[4] Other items issued as part of the field uniform include a green quarter-zip thermal shirt, a combat vest, balaclava, a white winter over-suit, and black leather combat boots.
These items are produced in the M90 pattern in three schemes, woodland, snow, and desert; although the snow camouflage is only issued to specific units. The desert camouflage has been in use with the Swedish ISAF contingent in Afghanistan since 2004.
The basic field uniform has a number of variations beyond the standard field, desert and winter uniforms.[5]