Deliveries began at the end of 1934, but the NiD 121s were only service for a few years before a crippling shortage of spare parts after the French aviation industry was nationalized after a series of strikes in 1936.

In 1930, the French Air Force issued a specification for an all-metal, single-seat fighter to be powered by a 650 hp (485 kW) engine and required to reach a speed of 350 km/h (217 mph) and a height of 9,000 m (29,500 ft).

The NiD 122 was destroyed in a fatal crash on 13 April 1933 when severe wing flutter caused an aileron to break off while the aircraft was being demonstrated in front of representatives of the Parliament of France.

While performance was good, with the NiD 121 reaching 367 km/h (226 mph), it was criticised for a weak undercarriage while its novel radiator was considered vulnerable to damage in combat and the Dewoitine D.500 was selected instead.

During a visit to the flight-testing center at Vélizy-Villacoublay Air Base in March 1933, the delegation was shown the NiD 121 prototype and agreed to place an order for 10 aircraft provided that the following changes were made: the prototype's 650-horsepower (480 kW) engine be replaced by the 12Hdrs model rated at 720 horsepower (540 kW), it was to be armed with 7.65-millimetre (0.301 in) machine guns, it had to be able to carry up to 120 kilograms (260 lb) of bombs and that it should be able to switch between its conventional landing gear and floats without loss of performance; however it does not appear that all of the conditions were met.

The unit was transferred to the newly built Capitán Guillermo Protset del Castillo Air Base in southern Peru in January 1936.

The short-ranged NiD 121s could not reach the base directly so they flew to Ancón where their floats were installed and then staged via the ports of Pisco, San Juan de Marcona to Mollendo.