The first production EA-18G Growler took to the air for the first time September 10, 2007, almost a month ahead of schedule, from Lambert-St. Louis International Airport at approximately 2 p.m. The flight marked an important milestone in the EA-18G Growler program, because a key point in winning the contract to build the Navy’s next airborne electronic attack aircraft was that the Navy could get the improvements over their existing platform that they wanted, without having to spend extra time and money testing a new airframe. By using the Super Hornet airframe and building the jet on the existing production line, the EA-18G leverages the existing capabilities and known reliability and maintainability characteristics of the F/A-18E/F to provide an advanced AEA platform at a fraction of the cost and time of a completely new aircraft.