A twin-engine, twin-tailed, mid-wing, propeller-driven design with tricycle landing gear, it lost to the Grumman S2F Tracker in the United States Navy competition, and the two prototypes were not completed.
Chance Vought Aircraft began work on 25 January 1950 on a U.S. Navy proposal for an all-weather anti-submarine warfare design.
The company constructed a full-scale mock-up of the XS2U-1 and received a contract-of-intent for two XS2U-1 prototypes, BuNos 133780 and 133781, which were not completed before development was abandoned.
[1] Three-blade propellers similar to those used on the S2F were installed on the mock-up, which had a two-wheel nosegear, and single-tire main gear that would retract into the engine nacelles.
[2] A bulged radome was astride the center fuselage, and the forward fuselage/cockpit design bore a passing resemblance to the later Grumman Mohawk.