As an ex MN engineer officer, I was well accustomed to that concept.
As I said to a colleague yesterday: "As a Flt Lt I'd have made a good Sergeant!"
NCOs, please don't take offence ;)

Well if you saw Gibralter Britain in the Sun tonight on Channel 5 the Flight Sgt in charge of the Radar dome renewal was wearing Stone, so I take it is still issued.

I don't think we working class OR's could afford a proper clip on. More than a few however made their own variation with an issue tie, a piece of elastic and a pair of scissors ;)

Stone grey is most definitely still issued. Gibraltar, Italy, Cyprus, plus personnel assigned to the Middle East and to Defence Sections are issued it, although PCS is more often worn these days in Cyprus and smaller, permanent dets in the Middle East.

500N / Whenurhappy

Sorry, I missed your questions yesterday, went to bed early: shattered.

I don't know the full details - I got them second-hand from work colleagues who had been employed by both companies.
It may have been more accurate I had I said "not paid on time" so causing cash flow / liquidity problems which made the companies insolvent.
Its a favourite past-time for large companies, and government departments are no different. They'll spin payment out for as long as possible - in some cases hoping the company will fold so they can avoid paying.
Theres a whole business discipline devoted to the art: its humorously known as post-contract negotiation. Basically the buyers purchase ledger team pull every trick under the sun to avoid payment, and if they have the QC/QA team on side as well then you can block payment almost indefinitely. Certain training companies will even teach you how to maximise your skills in the art....its essential knowledge in any high value engineering contract.

But to get back on track.....as relayed to me, both companies suffered from post-delivery payment delay, partially over fake claims of quality irregularities in the goods delivered. All government does it. I used to have real problems getting cash for chemicals.....

On a trip to the States in '59 with 617 Sqdn. we were all coached to Innsworth for the day to be issued with a barathea? khaki No1 uniform. A storeman sized us up, chucked a jacket and trousers at us and then a group of ladies adjusted the length, tacking as required, in record time. Unfortunately we had to wear the normal airtex khaki shirt and black tie with them,which looked ghastly. Fortunately our USAF friends came to our rescue and lent us their smart poplin shirts, when we had to attend any formal reception.
As an aside, I saw two airmen on the tv the other day and I must say they looked very smart in their ( I assume) working dress. Certainly looked better than the old hairy job I wore!

Milo

I met some guys over the in the US in the UK firearms industry who did
a fair bit with the Brit Mil. Anyway, we were talking about night Vision
gear etc and he said the Brit Mil had this device.

He also said they had been issued a request for quote, which he binned and a while late someone called asking where the quote was, to be told they were not putting one in !

When asked why, he just told them flat out, "you'll want a demo unit at no cost for 6 months or more, you'll screw us on the price so no profit in it and
then you'll take bloody ages to pay" ! They were stunned because they
were not the only one's not to submit a quote !.