Editing Sardinia (section)

=== Military installations ===
[[File:20151102 Davide.Passone U.S. Artillery Training (2) (22126481703).jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|left|US Artillery Live Fire Exercise in Capo [[Teulada, Sardinia|Teulada]] 2015 during NATO exercise Trident Juncture ]]
Around 60% of all the military installations in Italy are in Sardinia, whose area is less than one-tenth of all the Italian territory and whose population is little more than the 2,5%.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nationalia.info/brief/11254/sardinians-protest-islands-military-occupation|title=Sardinians protest island's "military occupation"|publisher=Nationalia|year=2019}}</ref> The island hosts [[NATO]] joint forces and [[Israeli army|Israeli]] military forces, which use the island's territory to simulate war games; the Inter-service Test and Training Range of Salto di Quirra (PISQ) is one of the most important experimental
military training centres in Europe.<ref>Esu, Aide. ''“‘A Foras, Out’: Youth Antimilitarism Engagement in Sardinia.”'' Bethlehem University Journal, vol. 37, 2020, pp. 53–67. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.13169/bethunivj.37.2020.0053. Accessed 9 February 2021.</ref> The bases, used for manufacturing plants and military testing grounds, totally take up more than 350&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> of the island's land,<ref name=servitu>{{Cite web|url=http://www.regione.sardegna.it/tematiche/ambiente_territorio/servitumilitari/cosasono.html|title=Cosa sono le servitù - Regione Autonoma della Sardegna|website=www.regione.sardegna.it|access-date=24 November 2016|archive-date=27 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160327093132/http://www.regione.sardegna.it/tematiche/ambiente_territorio/servitumilitari/cosasono.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> making Sardinia the most militarized region in Italy and the most militarized island in Europe.<ref>Andrea Maggiolo, [http://www.today.it/cronaca/sardegna-isola-militarizzata-basi-poligoni.html Sardegna, il lato oscuro di un paradiso: è l'isola più militarizzata d'Europa], Today.it, 4 maggio 2014, accesso 14 novembre 2016.</ref><ref>{{cite book|last= Camillo|first= Lisa|title=Una ferita italiana. I veleni e i segreti delle basi NATO in Sardegna: l'inquinamento radioattivo e l'omertà delle istituzioni|publisher=Ponte alle Grazie|year=2019}}</ref><ref name="sardsecret">{{cite web|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/peopleandpower/2020/02/secret-sardinia-200205101020037.html|title=Secret Sardinia|publisher=Al Jazeera|year=2020|access-date=6 February 2020|archive-date=6 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200206125800/https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/peopleandpower/2020/02/secret-sardinia-200205101020037.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Besides the land-occupying installations, where 80% of the military explosives in Italy are used,<ref name="repubblica.it"/> there are also other military structures located on the sea and along the coastline, roughly equivalent to 20,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> (little less than the island's surface), being made inaccessible to the civil population when military exercises are held.<ref name=servitu/><ref name="sardsecret" />

Among the most notable military bases on the island are the Interagency Polygons in Quirra, Capo Teulada and Capo Frasca, used by Italian and NATO forces to test-fire ballistic missiles and weapons and by [[Italian Space Agency|Italian]] and [[European Space Agency]] to test space vehicles and for orbital launches. Until 2008, the US navy also had a nuclear submarine base in the [[Maddalena Archipelago]].<ref name=servitu/><ref name="news.com.au"/>

Depleted uranium and thorium dust from missile tests has been linked to an increase in cancers according to activists and local politicians.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-29/sardinia-military-weapons-testing-birth-defects/10759614 |title=Italian military officials' trial ignites suspicions of links between weapon testing and birth defects in Sardinia |last=Alberici |first=Emma |date=29 January 2019 |website=ABC News |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |access-date=29 January 2019}}</ref> In the late 1980s, a high level of birth defects occurred near the [[Salto di Quirra]] weapons testing site after old munitions were destroyed.<ref>{{Cite episode |title=Secret Sardinia |url=https://www.abc.net.au/foreign/secret-sardinia/10759968 |access-date=29 January 2019 |series=Foreign Correspondent |series-link=Foreign Correspondent (TV series) |first=Emma |last=Alberici |network=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |date=29 January 2019}}</ref>