General Electric's extensive experience in turbocharger production made them the natural choice for producing such an engine.

After radial compression, the air was diffused and turned 90 degrees rearwards, before entering a set of ten reverse-flow combustion chambers (i.e. cans).

After expansion through the turbine, the combustion products exhausted the engine through the simple conical propelling nozzle, via the jet-pipe.

[3] Using their turbocharger expertise, General Electric were able to, in a short space of time, develop a 1,400 lbf (6.2 kN)-thrust version, known as the I-14.

This version was referred to internally as the I-16[4] However, the United States Army Air Forces later decided to standardize all their jet engine naming, at which point the I-16 became the J31.