It was intended to compete for an Aéronavale (French Naval Aviation) contract, but was not selected for production after a 1950 accident badly damaged the sole prototype.

After the end of World War II, Aéronavale had only two small aircraft carriers: Dixmude, which was loaned by the Americans, and Arromanches, which had been leased from the British, but planned to lay down its own larger PA-28 design in 1947.

The French lacked an indigenous turbojet design and licensed the British Rolls-Royce Nene to facilitate their development of jet-propelled aircraft.

The aircraft had to exceed a speed of 900 km/h (559 mph) at all altitudes, have a climb rate in excess of 25 m/s (82 ft/s) at sea level, and an armament of three 30-millimeter (1.2 in) autocannon with the possibility of carrying bombs or unguided air-to-ground rockets.

The test pilots evaluated the Nord 2200 as having very good flying and handling qualities, although it was underpowered and was only able to reach 815 km/h (506 mph) and Mach 0.83.

Nord took advantage of the opportunity to move the dive brakes to the rear fuselage, install servo controls, enlarge the vertical stabilizer and add a "lip" above the air intake to house a small radar.

The work took almost a year and effectively ensured that the 2200 did not win the competition; a license-built version of the British de Havilland Sea Venom was ultimately selected to satisfy Aéronavale's requirement.

[9] Data from X-Planes of Europe II: Military Prototype Aircraft from the Golden Age 1945–1974[5]General characteristics Performance Armament