[1] The Bre.VI and Bre.XII were, in turn, developments of the Bre.V This aircraft was a refinement of the escort fighter that Breguet Aviation had designed and was manufactured by Michelin as the Breguet-Michelin BUC.

Initially intended to carry the same 37 mm (1.5 in) Hotchkiss cannon that armed the BUC, the Bre.5 was revised at the request of the French Army to carry a 7.7 mm (0.30 in) Lewis Gun fired rearward from atop the biplane's upper wing.

A small number of cannon-armed machines were produced from April 1916 onwards and allotted to bomber units.

The British Royal Naval Air Service operated 35 of which ten came from Bréguet, and 25 were built in the United Kingdom by Grahame-White as the G.W.19.

The fighter carried a 37 mm (1.5 in) cannon and a searchlight, and had a double nosewheel distinguishing it from previous versions.