The Bernard 160 was a three engine, multi-role monoplane designed in the early 1930s to meet a French government call for aircraft suited to policing and medical duties in its African colonies.
Initially this involved the Breguet 14, a largely metal-framed World War I bomber that was gradually replaced by the newer but wooden Potez 25.
It was to have four roles: photo-reconnaissance, whilst equipped with radio, a machine gun and 54×1 kg (2.2 lb) grenades; ground attack, with two crew and the same grenade load, an extra machine gun and 24×10 kg (22 lb) bomb load; ambulance, with one pilot, one medic and two wounded; and transport, with a pilot and four passengers.
Many unsatisfactory test flights showed that, because of interference between the propeller airstream and the wing, the engines needed to be both lowered in relation to the leading edge and moved further forward.
They were returned for official testing at the newly formed Centre d'Essais du Matériel Aérien, in the early summer of 1934, but both aircraft suffered serious damage to undercarriage legs caused by locking brakes.