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A rectangle marking a friendly force on a military map.
Also known as: Blue force frame, Friendly frame
In NATO joint symbology the outline of a unit's frame carries the affiliation before any icon inside it is read: a rectangle means friendly. This is the single most load-bearing convention in military mapping, and it is designed so that shape alone works in monochrome.
A rectangular frame indicates a friendly or own-force unit under NATO joint military symbology.
Affiliation is carried by frame shape rather than by colour alone, so a map remains readable when photocopied, faxed or displayed in monochrome — the reason the system is built on outlines.
Conventionally filled or outlined in blue where colour is available, which is the origin of the term 'blue force'.
A plain rectangle drawn in outline, wider than it is tall, enclosing space for an icon.
A friendly rectangle and a neutral square differ only in proportion, which is easy to misjudge on a cluttered map.
The rectangle marks friendly forces and the diamond hostile ones.
Both are affiliation frames in the same map-symbology standard.