It was intended to be fitted with a shell-firing gun, but was quickly abandoned, being found to be structurally unsound.

In order to reduce the drag associated with the pusher layout favoured for gun-carrying aircraft, the tail was carried on a single tubular tailboom connected by bearings to the four-bladed propeller, with bracing wires running to the wings and undercarriage.

The aircraft was powered by a single water-cooled Chenu inline engine mounted in the nose of the nacelle, connected to a long shaft running under the cockpit which drove the propeller using a chain drive.

[1][2] It flew in the summer of 1913, but testing was stopped after the aircraft's propeller broke in flight resulting in a forced landing.

[3] Although the F.E.3 did not fly again, the gun installation was test fired with the aircraft suspended from a hangar roof, showing that recoil loads were not excessive.