The Aermacchi MB.326, designed by Ermanno Bazzocchi, began life as a two-seat basic trainer for the Aeronautica Militare Italiana with secondary light attack capability. It was a generally simple aircraft with superb flight caracteristics making it ideal for its trainer role but a large number of foreign customers were drawn by its decent strike performance including Australia (where it was locally-built by CAC), Brazil (built by Embraer) and South Africa (built by Atlas). The MB.326 was continuously upgraded throughout its 20 years of production life and eventually led to a dedicated single-seat attack platform with air-to-air capability known as the MB.326K and which was exported to Dubai, Brazil, Ghana, Tunisia, Zaire and South Africa, dozens of which were still in service around the world during the mid-1990s. Italian units have seen been replaced by the MB.339.

The original two-seat trainer was flown as a prototype on 10 December 1957, entering service in 1962 simply as the MB.326. Different countries often received differently desginated aircraft such as the MB.326F (Ghana), the MB.326B (Tunisia) and the unarmed MB.326M for South Africa which was later complemented by the locally-built Atlas Impala Mk. I with weapons capabilites. A new engine led to the MB.326G which was offered to Argentina, Zaire and Zambia as the MB.326GB to Brazil as the MB.326GC (built locally as the AT-26 Xavante) and to Australia as the MB.326H. The final trainer version was the MB.326L sent to Dubai and Tunisia. Meanwhile, the MB.326K was designed as a true close support aircraft with the removal of the second seat and the addition of more powerful engines and avionics. It was built in South Africa as the Impala Mk. II.