It was a single-engined, low-wing monoplane that was designed as a catapult-launched reconnaissance aircraft to operate from warships of the French Navy.
It was powered by a single 164 kW (220 hp) Renault 6Q inverted six-cylinder air-cooled piston engine driving a two-blade propeller.
[2] Despite the Armistice, development continued, with a significantly revised third prototype being built by the Société nationale des constructions aéronautiques du Sud-Est (SNCASE) at Marignane, the HD.731.01.
[2] SNCASE meanwhile resumed work on the HD.730, refitting the second prototype with a Béarn 6D, testing starting again in July 1941 and continuing until being prohibited by the Italian Control commission in December.
[4] Work on the HD.730 restarted again after the German retreat from the south of France, with the second prototype being fitted with a single fin and rudder, flying again on 21 July 1945.