In 1936, the last PZL P-11f had been delivered only an year earlier, but the Romanian Air Force realised that the aircraft which had been a state-of-the-art fighter in 1931 was hopelessly outclassed by the new emerging designs. Therefore, they started once again to look for a new plane to equip their fighter squadrons.

Several aircraft were taken into consideration, but the Polish PZL company won again, this time thanks to their PZL P-24A fighter. The aircraft was a development of the P-11, but this time with a closed cokpit, a new radial engine, a new 3-bladed, all-metal propeller and a reinforced fuselage, that allowed engineers to mount engines of up to 1000 HP. Armament was also improved, the P-24 being one of the first fighters in the world to be equiped with 20 mm cannons. The other parts of the plane remained mostly unchanged.

Romanian officials came into contact with the PZL P-24 for the first time at the International Airshow in Paris, on November 1934, after the aircraft had set a world speed record for radial engine fighters of 414 km/h. In mid June 1936, the Superior Council of National Defense, who had decided to buy a new type of fighter was informed by the Technical Department of the Undersecretary of Air that the P-24 could reach a top speed of 430 km/h at 4250 meters. Impressed by the figures, the Council considered that the plane will be improved furthermore by equipping it with the IAR K14 powerplant, and that a great deal of time could be spared, since the prototype was ready for demostrations between the 20th and the 30th of August, so it gave its agreement for placing an order. It was late 1936 when a contract was signed, stating that 5 planes would be purchased from PZL, whilst 40 more would be built by IAR works.