page_title: Italian nuclear weapons program
section_title: Alfa
hierarchical_section_title: Italian nuclear weapons program / Italy's indigenous program / Alfa
caption_attribution_description: English: Italian Alfa missile side and cutaway viewsItaliano: Missile ALFA, viste laterale ed in sezione
context_page_description: The Italian nuclear weapons program was an effort by Italy to develop nuclear weapons in the late 1960s and early 1970s. After abortive proposals to establish a multilateral program with NATO Allies in the 1950s and 1960s, Italy launched a national nuclear weapons program, including testing a ballistic missile. The program ended in 1975 upon Italy's accession to the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Currently, Italy does not produce or possess nuclear weapons but takes part in the NATO nuclear sharing program.
context_section_description: In 1971, the Italian Navy began an ingenious program to develop ballistic missiles called Alfa. Officially the project was termed as a development effort for a study on efficient solid-propellant rockets for civil and military applications. It was planned as a two-stage rocket and could be carried on submarines or ships. Test launches with an upper stage mockup took place between 1973 and 1975, from Salto di Quirra. The Alfa was 6.5 metres (21 ft) long and had a diameter of 1.37 metres (4 ft 6 in). The first stage of the Alfa was 3.85 metres (12.6 ft) long and contained 6 t of solid rocket fuel. It supplied a thrust of 232 kN for a duration of 57 seconds. It could carry a one ton warhead for a range of 1,600 kilometres (990 mi), placing European Russia and Moscow in range from the Adriatic Sea.
  The combination of high costs of over 6 billion lira and a changing political climate meant that the project was doomed. In addition, there was an increasing risk of nuclear escalation outside Europe and domestic pressure for Italy to take play its part in reducing the nuclear tension. These combined with pressure from the United States led to Italy abandoning its nuclear weapons program and ratifying the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons on 2 May 1975.
  The technological heritage of Alfa is today in light solid-propellant space launchers, like the current Vega rocket. The country in more recent years, under the auspices of European space agency has demonstrated  the reentry and landing of return of a capsule called IXV.
caption: Italian Alfa missile side and cutaway views
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