Last in the Century Series of USAF jet fighters, the Convair F-106 Delta Dart was a direct development of the company's earlier F-102. The Delta Dart was at first glance nearly identical to its predecessor but did include extensive changes such a redesigned fuselage to fit more powerful J75 engines as well as variable geometry intakes, more advanced avionics, and the ability to carry Genie nuclear tipped rockets. The resulting aircraft was capable of Mach 2 speeds yet suffered from numerous performance and equipment shortcomings which nearly resulted in the program being terminated. In the event, a smaller number of F-106s was ordered as the last dedicated interceptor to serve with the USAF as more advanced radars and weapons were slowly being incorporated in regular fighters. Still, the F-106 served with 14 Air Defense Command squadrons (and later ANG units) well into the 1980s with target drone conversions still flying after the end of the Cold War.

The Delta Dart began as a refinement of the earlier Delta Dagger and was known as the F-102B before being redesignated into the F-106A which first flew on 26 December 1956 as well as the combat capable F-106B tandem two-seat trainer. No other variants were built although they were continually upgraded througout their service lives (an improved F-106C/D with more powerful JT4D engines was proposed but never built). The last versions to be used were target drone conversions known as the QF-106.