On 13 July 2002, the regiment was presented with its current Standard by the then Governor General, Dr. Peter Hollingworth. On 26 July 2007, after 31 years of service the Leopard was replaced by 59 M1A1 Abrams AIM, with 41 being delivered to the regiment and the remaining vehicles issued to the School of Armour for use for training purposes. Seven M88A2 Hercules Armoured Recovery Vehicles were also acquired, two being delivered to the regiment. The Leopards never saw operational service, although during the 1999 East Timor crisis the regiment was placed on standby to deploy in the event the conflict escalated, while the regiment was not deployed during Australia's involvement in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Members of the unit later deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan as Bushmaster PMV crews, while others have also served in East Timor and the Solomon Islands. During this period the regiment was the only main battle tank unit in the Australian Army and was based at Robertson Barracks, in Darwin. Until 2013 it provided the basis for one of three battlegroups within the mechanised 1st Brigade, which included two mechanised infantry battalions, one cavalry regiment, one tank regiment, and a medium artillery regiment.