The Tu-228 Ajax (Yuktobanian: Аякс) (UTO reporting name: Martyr) was developed as Yuktobania's response to the Osean SR-91 Aurora, a hypersonic stratospheric reconnaissance aircraft. Originally an ambitious project incorporating a "magneto-plasma-chemical" system to reduce friction, create a radar-absorbing sheath, and maximize fuel efficiency, the system's goal of shaping a sheath of plasma around the fuselage rapidly found itself at odds with the laws of magnetohydrodynamics and was abandoned during the 1990s. The resulting craft that first flew in 2009 was rather conventional and comparable to the Aurora. Destruction of test facilities by Osean deep penetrating airstrikes in the Circum-Pacific War, however, set development back by some time. The craft reached operational status in 2015, but the Yuktobanian government only ordered two airframes.
The Ajax has been enigmatic to the West ever since it was first discovered by the CIA; it was kept a closely guarded secret by the Yukes, who intended to use the airframes as testbeds for radical aerospace technologies even after abandoning the plasma drive. Western intelligence agencies have continued observing the craft to the greatest of their abilities, hoping for insight into future Yuktobanian tactical fighter and bomber avionics and systems.