The Lavochkin La-15 'Fantail' was the company's answer to the MiG-15 which was being designed at the same time. Like the MiG, the La-15 also benefitted from the transfer of jet engine technology from Britain and used a local-built copy of the Rolls-Royce Derwent powerplant. The La-15 and MiG-15 were outwardly very similar with the main difference being a shoulder mounted wing in the Lavochkin offering but, overall, it was considered to be inferior in performance to the MiG and as a result, was not chosen for mass production. Development continued anyway and the La-15 eventually entered service in limited numbers, in no part due to the difficulty in producing an aircraft composed of numerous milled parts. Although it was popular with its pilots and improved over the course of its development (to the point that it became superior to later MiG-15 variants), it was never able to displace the simpler, easier to produce MiG.

The first La-174 prototype flew in August 1948, it had been based on a series of previous experimental designs based initially on copied Junkers Jumo engines and, later, on both Nene (La-168) and Derwint (La-172) powerplants. It entered limited service as the La-15 and was complemented by the La-15UTI trainer which was not put into production. Further experiments led to the La-176 prototype with more powerful Nene engines with afterburning capability but in the event, was not put into production.