In response to a requirement for a high performance night and all-weather interceptor, Lavochkin (OKB-310), Sukhoi (OKB-134) and Mikoyan-Gurevich (OKB-155) design bureau developed the La-200, Su-15, and I-320 (where the I stands for Istrebitel, or "Fighter") respectively.

A key component of the three competing aircraft, was the "Toriy" ("Thorium") centimetre waveband NII-17 radar at Tikhomirnov NIIP - (NIIP for Nauchno-Issledovatel'skiy Institut Priborostroyeniya, or "Research Institute of Instrument Engineering"), which was capable of detecting a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber at a range of 20 km (12 mi).

The La-200 was an all-metal, two seater, twin-engined jet aircraft, with a tricycle undercarriage and mid set wings with 40° sweep at 1/4 chord.

The two Klimov RD-45F centrifugal flow turbojet engines were to be fitted in tandem inside the front and rear fuselage with the air intake at the extreme nose.

The nose undercarriage rotated 90° to lie flat under the forward engine, and the twin wheeled main undercarriage legs, with long travel levered suspension, retracted into the centre fuselage above the forward jet pipe and astride the fuel tank and intake trunking for the rear engine.

Flight trials were relatively successful, but revealed a tendency to drop the starboard wing at high speeds (known colloquially as val'ozhka).

To help cure the problems the starboard wing incidence was increased by 1° 30', and the twin mainwheels were replaced by single wheel units.