After the introduction of jet aircraft into Naval Aviation, the platforms first employed in the training of jet pilots were types retired from front-line service in the fleet and training versions of fleet aircraft, among them the F9F-8T Cougar and TV Shooting Star. In 1956, Rockwell International Corporation began design work to meet the Navy's requirement for an all-purpose jet trainer for intermediate and advanced training.

The result was the T-2 Buckeye, a tandem-cockpit aircraft that drew from proven, existing technologies, its wings derived from the FJ-1 Fury and its control system in line with that of the propeller-driven T-28 Trojan training aircraft. As a multipurpose jet training, the T-2 incorporated under-wing hard points for weapons training and arresting gear for carrier qualification. The final carrier qualification flights made by T-2s occurred in 2003, and the aircraft has been replaced in the Naval Air Training Command by the T-45 Goshawk.