The SM90 is a modern respirator manufactured by the Swiss company Huber+Suhner for the Swiss military, however other countries such as South Africa and Singapore also use this mask.
Overview[]
Production of the SM-90 started in the early '90s due to Switzerland needing a new protective mask fitting the "modern respirator" description, the SM-90 is an NBC/CBRN/ABC rated mask intended for military use and is made of soft black rubber, most likely butyl. The mask features a drinking tube, a 6 point mesh head harness, locking head harness buckles (made of metal), an oral nasal cup, voice diaphragm and removable tinted/flashbang outserts.
The mask uses the standard NATO compliant 40mm threads which means that almost all filters containing 40mm threads can screw into the inlet of the SM-90. The filter inlet, voice diaphragm, drinking tube and exhale valve assembly are located in the centre of the mask, as the filter is located in the centre of the mask this means the SM-90 accommodates for both left and right-handed shooters, no adjustments need to be made to accommodate either left or right-handed shooters. The SM90 uses the 40mm NATO-compatible SF90 ABC Schutzfilter. To conserve the newer SF90 filters, the Swiss military commonly uses SF74 filters for training. These training filters can be easily identified by the green ring painted around the canister.
The lenses are made of a durable scratch resistant material called mineral glass, the tinted outserts are made of hard tinted plastic and simply clip over the existing lenses.
The SM90 gas mask, along with the FM12 and Canadian C4 are some of the very first masks to use stretchable fabric or mesh fabric "skullcap" head harnesses. The innovative skullcap head harness (back in the early 90s) is now commonly used in most modern gas mask designs (2010 onwards).
Swiss Gas Mask Sizing System[]
The Swiss use a unique sizing nomenclature for their gas masks. Instead of using an "S", "M" or "L" or a 1, 2, 3 and 4, the Swiss SM90 uses these symbols:
"O" = Small or helmet size small.
"OO" = Medium
"+" = Large
Always take this into account when acquiring Swiss gas masks as this sizing system is also used on the SM74 gas mask.
Popular Gaming Culture[]
The Swiss SM90 is the gas mask worn by Major Alexander Degtyarev operating as a S.T.A.L.K.E.R in the PC DVD case cover of S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Call of Pripyat. The gas mask does not appear in the game as a useable item.
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