In the mid-1960s, the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) began to search about for a new jet trainer, tentatively designated the "T-X". There was a belief that the modern Mach 2 fighters then being acquired and operated by the JASDF -- including the Lockheed F-104J Starfighter and, eventually, the McDonnell F-4EJ Phantom -- required a supersonic advanced trainer. The T-X was also seen as the basis for a single-seat strike aircraft, tentatively designated the "SF-X".

Supersonic jet trainers were something of a fad at the time. The US Air Force had already acquired the Northrop T-38 Talon supersonic trainer, and the Anglo-French SEPECAT Jaguar partly emerged from a perceived need for a supersonic trainer, though it would effectively end up being used as a strike fighter. Both the T-38 and the two-seat Jaguar were promoted by their respective nations as solutions to the Japanese training requirement, while the Northrop F-5, a complementary design to the T-38, and the single-seat Jaguar were promoted for the strike requirement. The JASDF was very interested in the Jaguar and the Japanese even negotiated to build it under license, but royalty issues and nationalism led the Japanese to decide to build their own design.

The type entered JASDF service in 1975. 90 production T-2s were built, including 28 unarmed "T-2(Z)s", with the "Z" standing for "Zenkigata (early type)" and 62 armed "T-2(K)s", with the "K" standing for "Kokigata (late type)"; some sources translate these variants as "T-2A" and "T-2B" respectively. Two of the four prototypes were unarmed, two were armed. An additional two T-2(Z)s were built but modified for the S-FX / F-1 strike fighter program off the production line, as discussed in the next section. The last T-2 was delivered in 1988.

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