In the early 1930's, the Romanian Royal Air Force was looking for a modern fighter to replace its obsolete and worn-out Spad S61's and Fokker DXI's. The favourite in this competition seemed to be the new Polish PZL P1/II fighter, at that moment one of the best in the world. Inspite of this, the appearance of IAR's first own fighter design, in the shape of the IAR CV-11, prelonged the suspense, until September 1931, when an improved version of the PZL P1/II, the PZL P-11 was chosen as the new main fighter of the Romanian Royal Air Force. This decision, although somewhat suspicious due to corruption allegations, seemed to be the right one since the Polish aircraft had superior maneuvrability over its Romanian counterpart, and its armament was an impressive one for the early 1930's.

The initial order was for 50 modified versions of the PZL P-11, called PZL P-11b, to be produced in Poland. Changes over the original model consisted in fitting a Romanian IAR K9 engines as well as Romanian produced instruments.

After the delivery of the first 50 planes, the IAR works got the contract for producing the fighter under license, designating it as PZL P-11f. Production started in 1934, a bit slower at start as the IAR lacked experience with all-metal construction, but ramped up the next year. Eventually, some 150 P-11f's would be manufactured until the end of 1935. The PZL P-11f would remain the most numerous of all ARR fighters right until the start of World War Two. Of the 300 Polish planes that found refuge in Romania in late September 1939, some 50 PZL P-11b fighters were taken over and used by the ARR, some for training and combat, but most were dismantled and turned into spare parts.