T-610 Super Pinto Low-poly 3D model

The T-610 Super Pinto started as a 1968 conversion of the United States Navy's Temco TT Pinto two-seat jet trainer. AJI modified the aircraft for light attack by changing the powerplant with the General Electric CJ610-6 turbojet engine and extending the fuselage by 10 inches. It featured a modified wing, wingtip fuel tanks, and a swept vertical stabilizer as well as provision for two underwing hardpoints. The prototype first flew on June 28, 1968. The aircraft flew very well and later improved in power three fold, with only 20 pounds more weight compared to the original design. The United States Air Force (USAF) evaluated the Super Pinto during its PAVE COIN program in 1971 but it did not receive a contract with either the USAF or Turkey.[citation needed]

Consequently, the company decided to sell the whole project and struck a deal with the Philippine government, whereby AJI relinquished all rights on the Super Pinto design. In a US$1.25 million deal, the Philippine Air Force (PAF)'s Self-Reliance Development Wing bought the rights for the work drawings, patents, design, flight test data, and process sheets for the manufacture of the aircraft on November 8, 1976, as well as one U.S.-built prototype, which became the first Philippine T-610 (now known as the Calí or hawk), and an additional fuselage. The deal included the exclusive rights to market military and commercial versions internationally.TT-1 Pinto in flight in 1957.

The second T-610 was produced locally, and both aircraft were flight tested satisfactorily in Manila, creating high expectations to build a national aircraft industry in the Philippines. They carried the numbers 44233 and 44234, which echoed U.S. Navy Pinto serials 144233 and 144234. The two aircraft differed mainly in that 233 had the one-piece canopy of the original Pinto, while 234 had a two-piece canopy. It would be logical to conclude that 44233 was originally the Navy's 144233, but there is no evidence of this. Both Navy Pintos are still existent on the American civil register and pretty much active.

The Calí program started to encounter economic problems, and after the Marcos administration collapsed, the project was shelved. The resurrection of the Calí program was considered on various occasions. In the mid-1980s, four separate versions were targeted for possible production: a single-seat light strike aircraft that could carry up to 1,600 kg of stores for COIN operations; a tandem-seat primary jet trainer; a quick change version of the trainer that could be rapidly converted as a strike aircraft; and an executive version with a wider pressurized cabin seating five passengers. At that time, the PAF foresaw the Calí as a possible replacement for no less than its Beechcraft T-34 Mentors, SIAI-Marchetti SF.260s, North American T-28D Trojans, Lockheed T-33s and even its North American F-86F Sabres, with a planned operational life of about 15 years. The commonality of the CJ610-6 engine with the country's Northrop F-5 fighter force was especially viewed as a key element.

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