Prior to 1943, the survival chances of the "Aerosiluranti" had diminished steadily: on average, a SM.79 would be shot down after just three missions. The year opened with attacks against Allied shipping off North Africa, during which they were unable to accomplish many successes. During July, the Allies invaded Sicily with an immense fleet. The "Sparvieri" were already obsolete and phased out of service in bomber Wings and its intended successors, the SM.84 and Z.1007, were considered to be failures, while the latter were not produced in enough numbers. As a consequence, the latest version of the "Sparviero" was retained for performing torpedo attacks, being considerably faster than its predecessors.