T-2

The Mitsubishi T-2 was a supersonic jet trainer aircraft designed and produced by the Japanese aerospace firm Mitsubishi. It was the first Japanese-developed aircraft to break the sound barrier. During the 1960s, it became apparent that the Fuji T-1, Japan's first quantity-production jet aircraft, was not ideal for training pilots to operate the increasingly complex supersonic aircraft being operated by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF). Accordingly, options for a new trainer that could also be potentially developed into a strike fighter were explored under the T-X initiative. Both the Northrop T-38 Talon and SEPECAT Jaguar were examined to fulfil this role, with negotiations for held with the Anglo/French consortium SEPECAT on licence-producing the Jaguar reportedly conducted, but Japan instead opted for its own design. Mitsubishi's proposal was selected in September 1967. While independently designed, the T-2 bore a resemblance to the Jaguar, and both aircraft were powered by licence-produced versions of the same Rolls-Royce Turbomeca Adour turbofan engines, yet there was clear differences between the two as well. On 20 July 1971, the first XT-2 prototype performed its maiden flight. Four years later, the type was introduced by the JASDF in the advanced trainer role, by which point it had been formally designated T-2. The aircraft was adopted by the "Blue Impulse" aerobatic display team during the early 1980s as well as by a dedicated aggressor squadron. Furthermore, the envisioned strike derivative of the T-2, which had been tentatively designated SF-X, also entered service as the Mitsubishi F-1 strike fighter, to which the T-2 functioned as a conversion trainer. Deliveries of the T-2 continued until 1988; the JASDF was its sole operator. The last T-2s were withdrawn by 2006, by which point it had been replaced by the newer Kawasaki T-4.

Summary from Wikipedia, photo via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA.