Based on the R-5SSS, the most advanced variant of the R-5, the R-Z had a new, deeper, monocoque fuselage, with a sliding canopy for the pilot and fixed glazed fairing for the observer.

[3] These were heavily used, flying in tight formations and using co-ordinated defensive fire to defend against fighter attack, while returning individually at low levels.

[5][6] Although many R-Zs were damaged by ground fire, and the 2ª Escuadrilla, Grupo 30 lost 9 of their 60 aircraft in one day on 24 December 1938,[7] overall losses were relatively low [8] with 36 of the 61 delivered surviving to be captured by the Nationalists at the end of the war in April 1939.

[9] R-Zs were used by the Soviet air force against Japan above Mongolia in the Battle of Khalkhin Gol in 1939, and the Winter War against Finland in the same year.

[1] By the time of the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, the R-Z was in the process of being replaced by the Ilyushin Il-2, although it remained in service with a number of light bomber regiments.