Why Italy struggled to organize maritime reconnaissance

Could Italy buy German aircraft and create a naval group for reconnaissance and limited strikes?

The concept is sound, but interservice politics and limited access to German aircraft make it improbable in 1939-40.

A naval air group able to find enemy task forces and strike weak transports would answer a real Mediterranean need. Operating from central Italian bases, it could patrol likely approach routes, report hostile concentrations, and attack vulnerable shipping without waiting for a destroyer response. The obstacle is institutional as much as technical because Regia Aeronautica control and air force-navy disputes made an autonomous naval group unlikely. Equipment access compounded the problem: buying suitable German aircraft was difficult in 1939 and 1940, while even obtaining Stukas remained a major Italian effort later in the war.