in response to a 1939 Imperial Japanese Army Aviation Bureau requirement for a heavily-armed, specialised interceptor fighter to be powered by the liquid-cooled Daimler-Benz DB 601 inverted V12 engine, which had been selected for license production by Kawasaki as the Ha-40.

[4][5] The armament carried was two synchronized, fuselage mounted 12.7 mm caliber Ho-103 machine guns, which were set in a "staggered" configuration (the port weapon slightly further forward than that to starboard) in a bay just above and behind the engine.

One German made Mauser MG 151/20 20 mm cannon was housed in a weapons bay in each wing.

Approximately 100 kilograms (220 lb) were removed, primarily by replacing the MG 151 cannon with Ho-103 machine guns.

By this time, the Nakajima Ki-44, which had also been designed as a dedicated interceptor, was beginning to show some promise, and the Koku Hombu selected this in fulfilment of its requirements.

From early 1941, the full attention of Takeo Doi and Shin Owada was focused on the Ki-61; the Ki-60 became important in that the Ki-61 design was able to be improved using the lessons learned from the poor characteristics of the Ki-60.