Previously, the US Navy relied on 'hunter-killer' pairs of anti-submarine aircraft such as the Guardian one of which was tasked with detection and the other for attack. By the 1950s, both roles could be performed by the same aircraft and the first such type for the USN was the Grumman S-2 Tracker. The tracker retained a piston-engined configuration but introduced a powerful search radar, magnetic anomaly detector (both of which were fitted in retractable radomes or booms), sonobuyos, searchlights, and numerous weapons which could be carried in an internal weapons bay and on underwing hardpoints. Like most carrier based aircraft (especially one of its size), it also featured folding wings. S-2s have since been replaced in USN service with the jet-powered S-3 but many still remain in service with the numerous foreign operators which acquired it (a total of 14) some of which used it on their respective carriers such as Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada (where they were license produced), and the Netherlands.

The prototype XS2F-1 first flew on 4 December 1952 entereing production as the S2F-1 (S-2A after 1962) two years later. They were followed by the S2F-2 (S-2C) with an enlarged weapons bay, the S2F-3 (S-2D) with various structural and equipment modificiations, and the final S2F-3S (S-2E) which served with the US Navy until 1975. A TS-2A trainer was also built. Canadian units built by de Havilland Canada were known as the CS2, later changed to CP-121 after 1968.