Salto di Quirra is a restricted weapons testing range and rocket launching site near Perdasdefogu on Sardinia. It is the largest military range in Italy, composed of 12000 hectares of land owned by the Italian Ministry of Defence and one of the largest in operation within the European Union. Birth defects and cancer in the area have been blamed on weaponry used at the site. Sardinia hosts about 60% of Italian military ranges and together with Friuli-Venezia Giulia is one of the most militarized regions of Italy. Salto di Quirra primarily launches military rockets, but civilian rockets, such as the Skylark, have occasionally been launched for the study of the upper atmosphere. The Salto di Quirra range is located close to the town of Perdasdefogu in a mountainous zone at the south-east of Sardinia. It is an inter-arm range, currently placed under the authority of the Italian Air Force. Its main activity deals with the tests of various types of missiles used or built by Italy, or in collaboration. This base was used, at the beginning of the 1960s, for the first sounding rockets launches carried out by the CRA (Centro Ricerche Aerospaziali) in co-operation with the Italian Air Force and NASA. Three campaigns of Nike Asp and Nike Cajun launches took place, in 1961 and 1963. From 1964 and until 1972, it was used for the ESRO sounding rockets program using especially Skylark and Centaure rockets, but also Belier and Zenit During this period, some sounding rockets were also launched on behalf of Switzerland and Germany. After 1972, the Salto di Quirra activities in the field of rocketry were limited to national programs. Three Alfa experimental vehicles were launched successfully in 1973-75. A test of San Marco Scout rocket, in 1992, was less successful. Vega test firings Zefiro 9 Two test firings of the Zefiro 9 rocket engine, designed to power the third stage of the Vega launch vehicle, have been conducted at Salto di Quirra. The first test firing took place 20 December 2005 and was a complete success. The second firing, on 28 March 2007, experienced unexpected anomalous behavior. Space and missiles operations From its very first start, the Salto di Quirra (Sardinia) firing range played a relevant role in Italian space operations. The range belonged to the ITAF Ammunition Research Unit, since 1956 headed by Luigi Broglio whose name had been put forward by Gen. Mario