It was a single-engine, mid-wing, cantilever monoplane of stressed-skin construction with a fixed tailwheel undercarriage and a long transparent cockpit canopy.

[1] The Ki-30 was developed in response to a May 1936 Imperial Japanese Army specification to replace the Kawasaki Ki-3 light bomber with a completely indigenously designed and built aircraft.

The specification called for a top speed of 400 km/h (250 mph) at 3,000 m (9,840 ft); normal operating altitude from 2,000 m (6,560 ft) to 4,000 m (13,130 ft), the ability to climb to 3,000 m (9,840 ft) within eight minutes and an engine to be selected from the 634 kW (850 hp) Mitsubishi Ha-6 radial, 615 kW (825 hp) Nakajima Ha-5 radial, or 634 kW (850 hp) Kawasaki Ha-9-IIb liquid-cooled inline engines, a normal bomb load of 300 kg (660 lb) and a maximum of 450 kg (990 lb), one forward-firing machine gun and one flexible rearward-firing machine gun, the ability to perform 60° dives for dive bombing, and a loaded weight less than 3,300 kg (7,280 lb).

The wing was mounted at a point above the line of the aircraft's belly in order to fully enclose the bomb bay within the fuselage.

The second prototype's top speed of 423 km/h (263 mph) at 4,000 m (13,130 ft) led the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force to place an order for 16 service trials machines.

However, once unescorted Ki-30s met Allied fighters, losses mounted rapidly, and the type was soon withdrawn to second-line duties.