The Mitsubishi J2M Raiden (雷電, "Lightning Bolt") is a single-engined, land-based fighter aircraft used by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service in World War II.

The J2M was designed by Jiro Horikoshi, creator of the Mitsubishi A6M Zero, to meet the 14-Shi (14th year of the Showa reign, or 1939 in the Western calendar) official specification.

It was to be a strictly local-defense interceptor, intended to counter the threat of high-altitude bomber raids,[1][2] and thus relied on speed, climb performance, and armament at the expense of manoeuvrability.

The J2M was a sleek, but stubby craft with its oversized Mitsubishi Kasei engine buried behind a long cowling, cooled by an intake fan and connected to the propeller with an extension shaft.

J2Ms took part in one of the final aerial combats of the Second World War when four Raidens, accompanied by eight Mitsubishi A6M Zeros, all belonging to the 302nd Kokutai, intercepted a formation of US Navy Grumman F6F Hellcats from the aircraft-carrier USS Yorktown during the morning of 15 August 1945 over the Kanto Plain.

[4] U.S. Technical Air Intelligence Command (TAIC) tested two captured J2Ms using 92 octane fuel plus methanol and calculated maximum speeds using measurements.

A direct hit on the Mitsubishi Dai San Kokuki Seisakusho aircraft plant caused the complete loss of airframes, machine tools, and jigs.

Later declared surplus, it was displayed at the Travel Town Museum in Griffith Park, Los Angeles before it was acquired in 1958 by Planes of Fame founder Edward T. Maloney.