It was used to power the Aero L-29 Delfín jet trainer, with about 9,250 engines built between 1961 and 1989.

In 1955, the Czechoslovakian aero-engine company Motorlet commenced design of a new turbojet engine to power the Aero L-29, a jet trainer being designed by Aero for a competition to equip all Warsaw Pact air forces.

4 was tested on an Avia B-228 flying laboratory in December 1959.

8 powered the third prototype L-29 when it flew on 12 July 1960 (the first two prototypes had flown the previous year powered by Rolls-Royce Viper engines).

The L-29 was selected as the winner of the competition and was ordered in large numbers, with the M-701 entering production at Jinonice near Prague in 1961.