Another reason for the design was to provide the Regia Aeronautica with high performance fighter aircraft engines.

Production problems caused the project to be abandoned when Italy entered World War II in June 1940, power for the fighter designs moved to licensed-built Daimler-Benz DB 605 V-12 engines as the Fiat RA.1050.

[1] This V-16 engine used a supercharger similar to that used on the Fiat AS.6 capable of delivering air at a boost pressure of 1,350 mmHg (53.15 inHg).

The unusually long crankshaft was supported by nine main bearings to prevent torsional vibration.

The aircraft suffered damage from air raids and the factory was taken over in 1943 during the German occupation of Italy.