When it first debuted at the start of the 1960s, the Convair B-58 Hustler was a revolutionary aircraft: it was the first supersonic bomber as well as the first to reach Mach 2, it featured an area rule designed fuselage, four podded afterburning turbojets, a three seat tandem cockpit with an escape capsule, and the use of honeycomb sandwich construction. Like many other Convair designs, it was also built with a delta wing and was also notable for an under-fuselage pod which carried fuel and either conventional or nuclear weapons (it could be jettisonned in flight). Overall, the B-58 was one of the first aircraft which could be considered a true weapons system: integrating airframe, engines, weapons, and systems into one design. Unfortunately, as sophisticated as the Hustler was, it was also very expensive to operate and as a result had a relatively brief carreer with the Strategic Air Command before finally being retired in 1970 without ever having seen combat and replaced by the smaller but more capable F-111.

Maiden flight of the XB-58 prototype took place on 11 November 1956 and was followed by the development YB-58A (most of which were later brought up to operational standards). The first and only production version was the B-58A although trainer conversions were flown as the TB-58A. Unbuilt proposals included the B-58B and B-58C, the latter with near Mach 3 speeds and supercruise capability.