Responding to a US Navy requirement for an upgraded version of the A-6E/TRAM Intruder itself a second generation development of the original A-6A, Grumman was contracted in June 1984 to develop a third generation A-6E upgrade which later became the A-6F Intruder II. In 1985 Grumman started work on five prototypes, and the first of these flew in August 1987. The navy planed the procurement of 150 such aircraft, with deliveries beginning in 1990 In 1988, however, congress canceled the program for budgetary reason. This version of the navy's standard all weather "boom truck" would have been modernized with digital electronics using APQ-177 multi mode synthetic aperture radar in place of the original APQ-148/156 equipment, a head up displays, and five colored head down displays. These gave vastly improved acquisition of multiple target which could then have been attacked with a heavier and more diverse war load, including self defense AAMs carried on two or more hard points. Other features would have been a Boeing developed wing of composite construction with root fillets to reduce landing speed at higher weight, and turbofan engine offering more power and lower fuel consumption.