A number of tartans, worn by UK military units, are known as government tartans, and are defined in a standard currently maintained by
Defence Equipment and Support within the
Ministry of Defence. They are known by a number, a name, or both. The commonest in regimental use today are
royal Stewart (to which a number was not assigned); Government 1, Black Watch; and Government 1A, Sutherland district (a slightly lighter form of Black Watch, and specifically with a lighter green – general-public fashion use often has a lighter blue instead or in addition). For military wear, there are official specifications for the size of the full repeat (tile) of the sett (tartan pattern), which vary by tartan (e.g. 34.5 cm × 34.5 cm for Governemt 1A). Exactly how the kilt is pleated (knife or box pleats, and presenting which colour at the pleat edge) varies by unit. The following table includes those government tartans worn by UK military units as from the 2006 creation of the
Royal Regiment of Scotland onwards. Some other units may wear a named clan tartan without it being defined by this standard; these are covered in a second table below. For the Royal Regiment of Scotland, the
pipes and drums in each battalion wear the uniform of their antecedent regiment (as listed below) for ceremonial dress purposes, but the Royal Regiment's standard Government 1A for non-ceremonial (and non-combat) undress purposes. A number of other tartans are, since 2014, no longer listed as official uniform material by the Defense Clothing (DC) division of the Ministry of Defence, and "DC do not purchase or hold any of the cloth", but remain in use by some units' pipe bands and may be permitted for some other uses, such as uniform cap cockades, though are "unfunded" (must be provided by the units out of their own budgets). No. 1A was listed among these no-longer-official tartans in 2014, but in 2019 was included in the official tartans of the entire
Royal Regiment of Scotland, so something clearly changed during that period. It is unclear from available official documentation what tartans (ones apparently no longer in British military use at all) correspond to the serial numbers now missing from the specifications: 5, 10, 12, 13, 14, 17, 20, 21, 23, 24, and 25. ==Scottish clan tartans==