In 1930 the Polish Ministry of Defence announced a contest for a torpedo-bomber floatplane for the Polish Navy. Plage i Laśkiewicz works proposed first a floatplane variant F.VIIW of a licence-built bomber (developed from a passenger plane) Fokker F.VII, but it was not built. It also proposed a floatplane variant of single-engined Lublin R-VIII biplane bomber. In a course, three R-VIIIs were converted to floatplanes and given to the Navy, but they did not meet all demands, for they were obsolete, slow and could not carry torpedoes. Then Plage i Laśkiewicz proposed quite modern twin-engined plane Lublin R-XX, the main designer of which was Jerzy Rudlicki. The last design won the contest in 1932, besting PZL-18 and PWS-62 designs, and a prototype was ordered. It was initially planned to build a series of 9.