To celebrate the 75th anniversary of the formation of the Aircraft Research and Development Unit, three aircraft with a historical link to the unit and still showcasing the unit’s tail-flash took to the skies over Nowra and the Shoalhaven coastline. The formation contained a PC-9/A aircraft currently used by the unit along with a Royal Australian Air Force F/A-18B Hornet and a Douglas Dakota, owned and maintained by the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society based at Albion Park. The ADRU plans, conducts and analyses the results of ground and flight tests of existing and new Air Force aircraft and consists of four flights located at RAAF Bases Edinburgh, Amberley, Richmond and Williamtown, staffed by qualified test pilots, flight test engineers and flight test system specialists.

F/A-18A Hornet A21-32 assigned to the Aircraft Research and Development Unit, transits over the Woomera Test Range after a test mission for the JDAM-ER.

Aircraft Research and Development Unit Mirage III A3-2 inverted over a hill near Woomera fitted with six 500lb Mk82 bombs.

A UH-1 Iroquois helicopter assigned to the Aircraft Research and Development Unit.

Retired F-111C A8-132 at RAAF Base Edinburgh in Aircraft Research and Development Unit colours.

Sergeant Tanya Baldwin captures imagery of an F-111 assigned to the Aircraft Research and Development Unit during captive carriage testing of the AGM-142 missile. Sergeant Baldwin was the first female flight test photographer to work for the Aircraft Research and Development Unit whilst at 92 Wing,

One of the Aircraft Research and Development Unit's PC-9/As, A23-045, with the 75th anniversary tail markings.

PC-9/A A23-007 over South Australia.

A C-27J Spartan from 35 Squadron conducted a series of flight trials in conjunction with a PC-9A aircraft from the Aircraft Research and Development Unit in November 2018. The trials involved delivery of static-line parachutes, an important certification activity that prepared Spartans for final operational capability.

Between June 1 and 13, 2015, the first aerial refuelling trials were conducted between a RAAF KC-30A Multi-Role Tanker Transport and an E-7A Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft. During the trials, seven sorties were flown by each aircraft and included 118 dry contacts with the KC-30A's refuelling boom, and six wet contacts involving the transfer of 20 tonnes of fuel. The trials were conducted under the direction of the Aircraft Research and Development Unit.

Over the period February 27 to April 14, 2018 members from the Aircraft Research and Development Unit and 33 Squadron deployed to Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, to undertake clearance testing between the KC-30A and the Poseidon P-8A aircraft. Testing was jointly planned and executed by ARDU and Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 20 (VX-20).