The Italian Aerospace Research Centre (Centro Italiano Ricerche Aerospaziali - CIRA) is a consortium established in July 1984 to promote the growth and success of the aerospace industry in Italy (its head-office is in Capua). The majority of CIRA share capital is held by government organizations: the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and the National Research Council of Italy (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - CNR).^[1]

CIRA is developing spaceplane technology using its facilities for numerical simulation and ground tests, and has flown its first transonic flight test of a "flying test-bed" (FTB) vehicle dropped from a high-altitude balloon.^[2] CIRA intends to develop FTB vehicles by 2012 that can perform atmospheric reentry from low Earth orbit, launched using the Vega space launch system.^[2][3] This is consistent with the Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) plan of the European Space Agency.^[4]

Since 2005, CIRA is a partner of the Euro-Mediterranean Center for Climate Change (CMCC).