Flecktarn

The word Flecktarn comes from the German Fleck (spot) and Tarnung (camouflage). The term was coined by German designers in the 1970s during the Bundeswehr Truppenversuch 76, or German Army Uniform Trials of 1976. Several patterns were tested during the trials, but the one ultimately selected for general issue to the German Armed Forces was Flecktarnmuster (spot camouflage pattern), finally confirmed in 1989. Some evidence suggests that the original Flecktarn camouflage may have been developed by Marquardt and Schultz in cooperation with the French company Texunion.

Flecktarn is often misspelled Flectarn or Flecktar in some circles. The design and its derivatives have been adopted by a number of other countries beside Germany.

It has been suggested by some that the Flecktarn design may have been influenced by the German WW2 "pea pattern" (Erbsenmuster), but there is little evidence to substantiate such a claim.

The original German Flecktarn is a five-color pattern incorporating black, reddish-brown, dark olive and medium olive green spots on a moss green background. A desert version (referred to initially as Tropentarn but later as Wüstentarn) originally introduced in 1993 incorporates sparse dark olive & reddish-brown spots on yellow-tan background.

Colour distribution in the standard Flecktarn and the desert Flecktarn:

Flecktarn	Desert Flecktarn	Percentage
Black	Green	13.3
Dark Green	Tan	41.2
Brown	Brown	17.5
Light green	Tan	8.9
Grey green	Tan	19.1

• Denmark was the first nation to test its own version (the T/78 pattern) in 1978, and later introduced a finalized version (the M/84) in 1984. The number of colours in the Danish pattern was reduced from five to three. A desert variation was introduced in 2000.

• Comparision of the German and Danish versions of the Flecktarn pattern

• Comparison of the Danish desert pattern and the German Wüstentarn (desert pattern) to the right

Belgium used the original Flecktarn colouration for the Air Force Commandos (air field protection units), Denmark uses its own colouration - so does China (the Tibet Flecktarn), Poland uses/used an urban colouration.