A familiar roar across the skies of St. Louis was recently heard as the first F/A-18 Super Hornet to come off the production line since May 2016 was delivered to the U.S. Navy.

Super Hornet E298 is the first of many more Super Hornets to be delivered this year as part of Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 and 2017 budget commitments. The President’s FY18 budget included a requirement for 24 more Super Hornets, and the FY19 budget added an additional 110 Super Hornets to be built through FY23.

“Fiscal year 2018 commitments are behind those deliveries, and beyond FY18 is a promising future for F/A-18,” said Dave Sallenbach, F/A-18 &EA-18G Production program manager. “We’ve added capability to the air frame. We’ve shown a need for Super Hornets for well into the mid-2020s, well into the 2030s.”

Watch the story above to see E298 roll off the production line and fly into the skies towards a U.S. Navy base. Click here for more information on the F/A-18 Super Hornet.

Super Hornet E298 taxis to the runway after leaving the St. Louis production line.

Boeing