KLMK PATTERN
a.k.a.:
* computer pattern
* laser pattern
* solnechnyye zaychiki ('sun bunnies')
* sun-ray pattern
trialled: 1968
issued: 1969
discontinued:
used by: Russia (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics)
* Glavnoye Razvedivatel'noye Upravleniye ('main intelligence directorate'; abbrev. GRU) spetsnaz
* Pogranichnyye Voyska Komiteta Gosdarstvennoy Bezopasnosti ('Border Forces of the Committee for State Security'; abbrev. KGB–PV)
* Sukhoputnyye Voyska ('Ground Forces')
* Vozdushno-Desantnyye Voyska ('Airborne Forces'; abbrev. VDV)
Issued during 1968–1969, the kamuflirovannyy letniy maskirovochnyy kombinezon ('camouflaged summer deceptive coveralls'; abbrev. KLMK) was among the last one-piece camouflage uniforms to be fielded by the USSR.
Dubbed solnechnyye zaychiki ('sun bunnies') by Soviet soldiers, allegedly because it resembles the fall of sunlight through a forest canopy, this camouflage pattern is a much-simplified version of the pattern displayed on the 1961 paratroopers' KLMK. It is a two-colour pattern, comprising irregular, aliased (stepped), light-coloured blotches printed on a medium green background. There is considerable variation in the colours — the blotches might be beige, light grey or yellow, while the background colour can be a yellowish-green, grass green or medium green. Likewise, there can be a substantial variation in the spatial frequency of the pattern.
The KLMK was a reversible garment, with the same pattern, reversed and overprinted with a tiny, hound's-tooth check, on the other side. Dennis Desmond, in Camouflage Uniforms of the Soviet Union and Russia, 1937 to the Present states that this reversed KLMK pattern was intended for wear in snowy or sandy terrains.
However, its superficial resemblance to the grid-like pattern featured on the U.S. Parka, Night Camouflage, Desert — which was used extensively, by U.S. armed forces throughout the 1st Gulf War — strongly suggests that this camouflage pattern might also have been intended for use at night. Like the dark grid used in the U.S Desert Night Camouflage, the hound's-tooth check might be an interference pattern, designed to 'fool' the pixelised displays of early night vision systems.
When it was first introduced into service, the KLMK was issued to the Pogranichnyye Voyska Komiteta Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti ('Border Forces of the Committee for State Security'; abbrev. KGB—PV) and the Soviet Sukhoputnyye Voyska ('ground forces'). It was, however, quickly adopted by the Vozdushno-Desantnyye Voyska ('air assault forces'; abbrev. VDV) and, from the VDV, came to be used by spetznaz units of the Glavnoye Razvedivatel'noye Upravleniye ('main intelligence directorate'; abbrev. GRU). The KLMK continues to be used by the armed forces of the Russian Federation, although it is now issued chiefly to engineers, trainees and reservists. It was also used by Coassack units fighting in Moldova.
In 1975–1976 a two-piece uniform based on the same camouflage pattern, but cut more like the typical Soviet service uniform, was issued to the VDV and the KGB-PV. Unlike the KLMK, however, the garments of this kamuflirovannyye komplekt ('camouflaged set') were not reversible.
source:
kamouflage.net