[1] According to aviation author Jerzy K. Cynk, the immediate post-war decade was a period of frustrated efforts and disappointments, by early 1951, all of the nation's design offices had been dissolved and the entirety of indigenous projects were terminated.

Shortly following the death of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, military orders were drastically cut, leading to Polish aircraft plants falling idle and some being permanently closing down.

[1] While the nation's design offices had been liquidated, some former members had joined Poland's Aviation Institute (1L) and performed some limited work on various original projects, even though such efforts were initially officially discouraged.

Much of the design work on the program was produced in response to the specified needs of a requirement issued by the Polish Air Force for a capable jet-propelled trainer aircraft, which was seeking a replacement for the piston-engined PZL TS-8 Bies at the time.

Quickly, the British Armstrong Siddeley Viper had emerged as the company's favoured option; however, reportedly, negotiations for its acquisition eventually broken down; accordingly, work on the project was delayed until a suitable domestically built powerplant had reached an advanced stage of development.

From about 1966, new-build aircraft were furnished with a newer Polish-designed turbojet engine, designated as the WSK SO-1, which was capable of producing up to 9.80 kN (2,200 lbf) of thrust and reportedly gave the TS-11 a top speed of 497 mph.

The TS-11's single turbojet engine is accommodated within the main fuselage, its exhaust is located beneath the boom-mounted tail fin, which provides the aircraft with a fairly unusual silhouette.

[citation needed] Some models of the TS-11 can be armed; armaments have consisted of a single nose-mounted Nudelman-Rikhter NR-23 cannon with 80 rounds, along with a total of four underwing hardpoints that were compatible with a variety of different weapons, including bombs and rockets.

[citation needed] From 1969 onwards, various TS-11s have been used by the Polish Air Force's aerobatics display team, which was initially called Rombik and is currently named Biało-Czerwone Iskry (Translates to English as White-and-Red Sparks).

During the 1960s, the Iskra competed to be selected as the standard jet trainer for the Warsaw Pact, the Soviet Union had given Poland a promise to support its aviation industry and to favour the procurement of suitable aircraft for this purpose from Polish manufacturers.

[9] However, the Iskra was not selected for this role, it had lost out to the Czechoslovak Aero L-29 Delfín, another newly designed jet-propelled trainer aircraft; according to aviation author John C. Fredrikson, this outcome had been highly unexpected and surprising to several observers.

[11][12] In its place, the TS-11 has been considered for upgrades to better enable its continued service;[13] however, during 2010, the Polish Air Force issued a tender for a new advanced jet pilot training system to eventually replace the TS-11.