During 1934, the year in which the P.11 entered operational service, it was a contemporary of the British Gloster Gauntlet and German Heinkel He 51 and was arguably the most advanced fighter then in service in the world. However, due to a series of rapid advances and technological development in the field of aviation, the P.11 was considered to have been rendered obsolete by 1939. It had been overtaken in terms of performance by a new generation of fighter aircraft that commonly benefitted from features such as cantilever wings and retractable landing gear; such fighters included the British Supermarine Spitfire and German Messerschmitt Bf 109.