In January 1948, the Chief of Naval Operations issued a requirement to develop a long-range, carrier-based attack plane that could deliver either a bomb load or a nuclear weapon. The envisioned aircraft was intended to be operated from the planned "United States"-class "supercarriers," which were significantly larger than the USN's existing carriers, thus the specification set a target loaded weight of . Additionally, the USN sought for this bomber to possess greater speed and range than its existing North American AJ Savage fleet. A total of eight aircraft manufacturers produced responses to the specification, but all except Douglas Aircraft Company and Curtiss-Wright would drop out, declaring that there was no means that the requirements could be met within the 100,000 lb weight limitation. Uncertainty over the performance and requirements of both engines and bombs were major contributing factors towards this climate of negativity.