The Northrop F-89 Scorpion is an all-weather, twin-engined interceptor aircraft designed and produced by the American aircraft manufacturer Northrop Corporation. It was the first jet-powered aircraft to be designed for the interceptor role from the outset to enter service, as well as the first combat aircraft to be armed with air-to-air nuclear weapons in the form of the unguided Genie rocket. The name Scorpion came from the aircraft's elevated tail unit and high-mounted horizontal stabilizer, which kept it clear of the engine exhaust.

The General Electric/Allison J35 was the United States Air Force's first axial-flow compressor jet engine. Originally developed by General Electric in parallel with the Whittle-based centrifugal-flow J33, the J35 was a fairly simple turbojet, consisting of an eleven-stage axial-flow compressor and a single-stage turbine. With the afterburner, which most models carried, it produced a thrust of 7,400 lbf (33 kN).