Editing Convair F-102 Delta Dagger (section)

===Background===
[[File:Convair YF-102 53-1785 on Ramp E-2550.jpg|thumb|upright|The YF-102 with its original fuselage]]

On 8 October 1948, the board of senior officers of the [[United States Air Force]] (USAF) issued recommendations that the service organize a competition for a new interceptor scheduled to enter service in 1954; as such, the all-new design would initially be dubbed the "1954 Ultimate Interceptor".<ref>Donald 1997, p. 207.</ref> Four months later, on 4 February 1949, the USAF approved the recommendation and prepared to hold a corresponding competition during the following year.<ref name = "Becker p.68">Becker 2012, p. 68.</ref> In November 1949, the USAF decided that the new aircraft would be built around a [[fire-control system]] (FCS). The FCS was to be designed before the airframe to ensure compatibility.<ref name="Donald p.68-9">Donald 2003, pp. 68–69.</ref><ref name = "Becker p.689">Becker 2012, pp. 68-69.</ref> The airframe and FCS together were called the weapon system.

In January 1950, the USAF's [[Air Force Logistics Command|Air Materiel Command]] issued [[request for proposal]]s (RFPs) to 50 companies for the FCS, of which 18 responded. By May, the list was revised downward to 10. Meanwhile, a board at the U.S. Department of Defense headed by [[Major General]] [[Gordon P. Saville]] reviewed the proposals, and distributed some to the [[Chief Scientist of the U.S. Air Force|George E. Valley]]-led Air Defense Engineering Committee. Following recommendations by the committee to the Saville Board, the proposals were further reduced to two competitors, [[Hughes Aircraft]] and [[North American Aviation]]. Although the Valley Committee thought it was best to award the contract to both companies, Hughes was chosen by Saville and his team on 2 October 1950.<ref name="Donald p.69">Donald 2003, pp. 69, 228.</ref><ref name = "Becker p.69">Becker 2012, p. 69.</ref>

In June 1950, the requirement for the airframe was formally issued; during January 1951, six aircraft manufacturers submitted nine responses.<ref name = "Becker p.69"/> On 2 July 1954, three of the responding companies, Convair, [[Republic Aviation|Republic]], and [[Lockheed Corporation|Lockheed]], were authorised to proceed with the building of a mockup. Upon completion, the three designs would be competitively reviewed, the best of which would lead to the awarding of a single production contract under the name ''Project MX-1554''. Prior to this requirement, Convair had performed considerable early research into delta-winged aircraft and had experimented with various different designs, two of which fell under the name ''P-92''.<ref name = "Becker p.6668">Becker 2012, pp. 66-68.</ref> For the era, Convair's submitted design was relatively unorthodox, not only in terms of the delta wing configuration but the decision to carry all munitions within an internal weapons bay to reduce [[Drag (physics)#Aerodynamics|drag]]; despite this, Republic's design was even more radical, proposing to use [[ramjet]] propulsion to attain speeds in excess of Mach 3.<ref name = "Becker p.69"/>