As part of the attempt to improve anti-aircraft armament it was decided to develop purpose-built anti-aircraft machine guns for the army since infantry Maxim machine guns were not adequate for the task.

130 weapons were ordered from Valtion Kivääritehdas (VKT, the "State Rifle Factory") in 1933 and first batch of guns was distributed to units on 22 June 1934.

The weapon is also air-cooled instead of water-cooled, and has a barrel jacket closely resembling the one in Lahti-Saloranta M/26 light machine gun.

The weapon was used on a 135 cm high cone mount M/31 which, while it worked, was heavy and cumbersome to move.

In action the anti-aircraft machine gun had an intended crew of six: commander, gunner, two loaders and two ammunition handlers.

The recoil of the guns tended to cause muzzle climb during shooting, resulting in poor accuracy.

During Winter War further problems were found: the mount was heavy and cumbersome, and calibre of the weapon was not powerful enough.

This last problem was exacerbated by the fact that the design of a domestic heavy 13.2 mm anti-aircraft machine gun had not proceeded beyond prototype stage; further development of this weapon was stopped soon after.

However the start of the Continuation War delayed the production, and mass-production did not began in earnest until 1943.