Mediterranean air threats rewarded a mixed 40 mm battery

Mediterranean accounts can overemphasize German Ju 87 specialists even though Italian formations, including SM.79 units, provided many attacks with different profiles. A defence optimized for one threat could be ill-suited to the other, making a broadly effective compromise more useful than two separate ideal solutions. An 80-percent answer to both attack patterns could be more practical than separate perfect weapons that each performed badly against the other threat. The Royal Navy consequently saw value in radar-assisted Bofors mounts for longer-ranged disruption and pom-pom mounts for dense fire inside the kill zone. Attempts to use similar ammunition simplified supply but could also impose the pom-pom's 5,000-yard limit on some British Bofors installations. Even very old pom-poms could still score consequential successes, reinforcing the case for complementary systems rather than abrupt replacement.