Pantone to Federal Standard 595 Converter
Search any Pantone spot colour and get the closest Federal Standard 595 chips, ranked by ΔE*00. FS 595 is the US government paint standard used across military aircraft, vehicles, vessels and equipment.
FS 595 is heavily weighted toward greys, greens and tans — bright Pantone colours will show a large ΔE.
Closest FS 595 matches
Ranked by ΔE*00FS 11105
FS 31136
FS 11136
FS 11302
FS 32246
What is Federal Standard 595?
Federal Standard 595 is the colour standard of the United States government. Introduced in 1956 to replace a patchwork of separate service specifications, it gave every federal agency and contractor one shared set of physical colour chips, so that a paint ordered for an aircraft in one state matched the same paint ordered for a vehicle in another. Its current revision is FED-STD-595C, and it holds roughly 650 colours.
The five-digit code is genuinely informative once you know the rule. The first digit encodes the sheen: 1 is gloss, 2 is semi-gloss, and 3 is flat or lustreless. The second digit places the colour in a family — browns, reds, yellows, greens, blues, greys, and white or black. The final three digits identify the specific chip. That is why FS 14087, FS 24087 and FS 34087 are the same colour at gloss, semi-gloss and flat respectively, and why swapping the leading digit is how you change finish without changing colour.
Some of its chips are among the most recognisable colours in the world within their field. FS 34087 is the olive drab of US military vehicles. FS 36375 Light Ghost Grey and FS 36320 Dark Compass Grey form the two-tone scheme worn by F-16 and F/A-18 fighters. FS 34031 and the tan range cover desert camouflage. Scale modellers, restorers and aviation historians use these codes as everyday vocabulary.
Formally the standard has been superseded by SAE AMS-STD-595, after the US government moved several standards to industry-body stewardship. In practice the numbers did not change, contractors and suppliers still say "FS 595" or just quote the five digits, and paint is still sold against those codes. The distinction matters mainly on contract paperwork.
Pantone vs Federal Standard 595: how they differ
| Pantone (PMS) | Federal Standard 595 | |
|---|---|---|
| Origin | Pantone Inc., United States, 1963 | US federal government, 1956; now SAE AMS-STD-595 |
| Purpose | Consistent colour in printing and brand identity | Consistent paint colour across government and defence procurement |
| Physical form | Pre-mixed printing ink on paper | Paint chips — gloss, semi-gloss and flat coatings |
| Colour count | 1,341 coated colours, over 3,200 in total | Around 650 chips in FED-STD-595C |
| Code meaning | A catalogue index with a deck suffix | Five digits: sheen, colour family, then the specific chip |
| Colour range | Full spectrum, including bright and fluorescent inks | Weighted toward greys, greens, tans and browns for camouflage |
| Sheen handling | Coated vs uncoated paper changes appearance | Sheen is built into the code — 1 gloss, 2 semi-gloss, 3 flat |
| Who specifies it | Brands, designers, printers | Defence contractors, aerospace, government agencies, restorers |
Worked Pantone → FS 595 conversions
Left swatch is the Pantone colour, right swatch is the closest FS 595 equivalent the tool returns. ΔE*00 below 2 is a commercial match; above 5 the two colours read as visibly different.
Who converts Pantone to FS 595?
Pantone-to-FS 595 conversion is a specialist need, but a sharply defined one.
- Defence contract deliverables — US government contracts specify paint by FS 595 number. A supplier working from a corporate Pantone palette must convert before the finish can be approved.
- Aerospace and aviation liveries — Military and government aircraft schemes are defined in FS 595. Matching a commercial brand colour into that system is required for support aircraft and contractor fleets.
- Ground vehicles and equipment — Military vehicles, trailers, generators and shelters are painted to FS 595 codes, often with a specified sheen for infrared signature reasons.
- Scale modelling and restoration — Model paint ranges are sold against FS 595 numbers, and restorers of historic military vehicles and aircraft work from them to get period-correct finishes.
- Government facility and infrastructure work — Federal buildings, marker posts and safety equipment carry FS 595 specifications for both colour and gloss level.
- Camouflage and signature management — Sheen is not cosmetic in defence work — flat finishes reduce visual and infrared signature, which is why the leading digit is part of the specification.
How to use this Pantone to FS 595 converter
Matching runs live in your browser as you type.
- Enter a Pantone number or name in the search box and select the colour from the suggestions.
- Read the five closest FS 595 chips, ordered by ΔE*00 colour difference.
- Check the leading digit of the code to confirm the sheen — 1 gloss, 2 semi-gloss, 3 flat. Change that digit to keep the colour and switch finish.
- Watch the ΔE badge: FS 595 is dense in greys, greens and tans but sparse in bright colours, so vivid Pantone colours will report large differences.
- Copy the FS number, and verify it against a physical FED-STD-595 chip set before submitting it on a contract deliverable.
Accuracy — read before you specify a colour
Federal Standard 595 defines physical paint chips at specific sheen levels; Pantone defines printing inks on paper. Matching between them crosses both a colourant boundary and a surface-finish boundary, and gloss level alone can shift perceived colour more than the difference between two neighbouring chips. FS 595 is also deliberately unbalanced — it is rich in the greys, greens, browns and tans that military finishing needs and thin everywhere else — so bright Pantone colours will consistently report poor matches.
Results are ranked by ΔE*00 (CIEDE2000). Below 1 is imperceptible, 1–2 is a commercial match, 2–5 is visible side by side, above 5 reads as a different colour. Defence and aerospace paint specifications normally carry their own contractual ΔE tolerance measured against the physical chip under specified illumination — this tool's figures are a screen-based approximation and carry no contractual weight. The chip subset used here covers common FED-STD-595C colours rather than all 650.
In short: conversion values on this page are approximate, because the two systems use different colourants and cover different gamuts. Verify against the official physical colour standard before committing to production, tooling or a signed-off brand spec.