Роланд: Франко-германский зенитный ракетный комплекс малой дальности.

The Roland is a Franco German mobile short range surface to air missile (SAM) system. The Roland was also purchased by the U. S. Army as one of very few foreign SAM systems.

Roland was designed to a joint French and German requirement for a low level mobile missile system to protect mobile field formations and fixed, high value targets such as airfields. Development began in 1963 as a study by Nord Aviation of France and Bölkow of Germany with the system then called SABA in France and P 250 in Germany. The two companies formed a joint development project in 1964 and later (as Aérospatiale of France and MBB of Germany) founded the Euromissile company for this and other missile programs. Aerospatiale took primary responsibility for the Roland 1 day/clear weather system while MBB took primary responsibility for the Roland 2 all weather system. Aerospatiale was also responsible for the rear and propulsion system of the missile while MBB developed the front end of the missile with warhead and guidance systems. The first guided launch of a Roland prototype took place in June 1968, destroying a Nord Aviation CT20 target drone and fielding of production systems was expected from January 1970. The test and evaluation phase took much longer than originally anticipated with the clear weather Roland I finally entering operational service with the French Army in April 1977, while the all weather Roland II was first fielded by the German Army in 1978 followed by the French Army in 1981. The Roland missile is a two stage solid propellant unit 2.4 meters long with a weight of 66.5 kg including the 6.5 kg multiple hollow charge fragmentation warhead which contains 3.5 kg of explosive detonated by impact or proximity fuses. The 65 projectile charges have a lethal radius of 6 meters. Cruising speed is Mach 1.6. The missile is delivered in a sealed container which is also the launch tube. Each launcher carries two launch tubes with 8 more inside the vehicle or shelter with automatic reloading in 10 seconds. For defense of fixed sites such as airfields the shelter Roland can be integrated in the CORAD (Co ordinated Roland Air Defense) system which can include a surveillance radar, a Roland Co ordination Center, 8 Roland fire units and up to 8 guns.) killed the program and only 27 fire units and 600 missiles were built for one battalion in the Army National Guard, mounted on M812 flatbed trucks. With the failure of the M247 Sergeant York the U. S. Army leased 5 German Roland systems for evaluation as a possible replacement. – Glaive was a Franco German programme under which Euromissile would develop a revised Roland fire unit for use with the RM5 missile. This would add an integrated thermal sighting system with laser rangefinder allowing for night/all weather operation without using the radar. Contracts were issued in 1989 with the system intended to enter service in 1996. However, development of RM5 was cancelled in 1991. – NDV, NutzungsDauerVerlängert, Extended Service Life. This was a German parallel to the French M3S, being developed by LFK GmbH for the German government. The control system was to be digitized and integrated into the HFLaAFüSys air defence command and control system, with Roland 3 missile integration. Germany had a requirement to upgrade 84 Army (FlaRakPz 1A2) and 40 Luftwaffe (FlaRakRad) fire units. Trials had been completed in 2003 when Germany decided to withdraw Roland from use. Roland M3S (new build) – The prototype for this next generation Roland system was completed in 1992 and was offered to meet the air defense requirements of Turkey and Thailand. The prototype was a shelter installed on the chassis of the American M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System and featured a then Dassault Electronique Rodeo 4 or a Thomson CSF (now Thales) search radar. Roland M3S can be operated by one man although 2 are necessary for sustained operation and the operator can select radar, TV or optronic (FLIR) tracking. Roland M3S has 4 instead of 2 missile containers in the ready to fire position but only the 2 lower positions can be automatically reloaded. In addition to the original Roland missile Roland M3S could use the Roland 3 missile, or the VT1 missile of the Crotale missile system. Additionally the upper launch containers could be replaced by 2 pairs of launchers for the Mistral missile or the standard Roland missile container could be adapted to carry four FIM 92 Stinger missiles to increase the system's ability to rapidly engage multiple targets in a saturation attack. / – From 1969 Euromissile studied Roland as a possible naval weapon for shipboard installation. Originally known as Roland MX and later as Jason, the standard twin launcher (without search radar) with two below decks 8 round reloading drums could be installed on a standard sized module that was featured in several Blohm & Voss MEKO frigate proposals of the 1970s. No prototype or production systems were built with attention turning early on to an abortive vertically launched missile. An upgraded missile which entered production in 1988 with speed increased from 550 m/s to 620 m/s and range increased from 6.3 to 8.5 km with maximum effective altitude increased to 6,000 m. Warhead size is also increased to 9.1 kg with 84 hollow charges. Response time for the first target is quoted as 6–8 seconds with 2–6 seconds for subsequent targets. The Roland 3 missile can be used by all Roland systems. HFK/KV was a BGT proposed alternative to VT1. It was a hypersonic missile with a speed of over Mach 5, intended to reach maximum range of 12 km in only 60% of the time taken by VT1. Guidance was to be inertial with terminal infra red homing. Current systems are capable of launching Roland 2, Roland 3 or VT1 missiles. Roland's latest upgraded versions have limited ability to counter incoming low radar cross section munitions (large caliber heavyweight rockets).

Initial French requirements were for 144 Roland 1 and 70 Roland 2 systems with 10,800 missiles for the French Army, all installed on the AMX 30 tank chassis known as the AMX 30R. 181 systems (83 Roland 1 and 98 Roland 2) were eventually procured. The French Army has subsequently converted 20 of its Roland 2 all weather systems to the Carole air mobile shelter mounted system. These are used by the 54th Roland Regiment of the French Reaction Force for rapid deployment on short notice anywhere in the world. Three of the four Artillery Regiments which operated Roland have been disbanded and the 4th (54 Regiment) has been converted to the Mistral (missile). Thus it is likely Roland has been withdrawn from French service. was to buy 12,200 missiles and 340 Roland 2 fire units to fully replace the towed Bofors 40 mm guns systems and Contraves Super Fledermaus fire control systems. Eventually 140 fire units installed on the Marder (IFV) chassis were procured for service with the German Army Corps level air defense and equipped 3 regiments of 36 fire units in 6 batteries of 6 with one regiment assigned to each army corps (I., II., III.) and one battalion of 18 fire units (3 x 6) for the Corps LANDJUT. The Luftwaffe had a requirement for 200 Roland 2 systems for the close in defense of airfields and as mobile gap fillers for the MIM 23 HAWK SAM systems. 95 shelter mounted Roland systems (FRR) on MAN 8×8 trucks were eventually procured from the mid 1980s with 27 of those used by US Forces to defend American air bases in Germany. In 1998–99 10 Roland LVB systems were installed on MAN 6×6 trucks to be air transportable in the Transall C 160 for the German rapid reaction forces. The German Navy also procured 20 FRR truck mounted shelter systems for defense of naval air bases. Air Force and Navy Roland batteries consisted of 8 FRR fire units and an additional shelter mounted Fire Direction Centre (FGR) with a TRML 2D radar. In February 2003 the Bundeswehr cancelled a planned upgrade of Roland and announced it would phase out all of its Roland systems. This was completed by the end of 2005. The Luftwaffe and Navy have also withdrawn Roland and it is no longer employed by Germany. The Army had planned to replace Roland with the new and much more capable development LFK NG, but in 2012 the Army had to hand over the task of Short Range Air Defense to the German Air Force, ending all plans. A battery of shelter mounted ROLAND FRR systems and a FGR Fire Direction Centre have been passed on to Slovenia. On January 9, 1975, the Army selected Roland 2 as the winner of its SHORADS (Short Range Air Defense System) competition to replace the MIM 72 Chaparral and M163 VADS divisional air defense systems with a requirement for more than 500 fire units to be designated the MIM 115. Hughes Aircraft and Boeing Aerospace were contracted to develop American Roland which would have been installed in a removable module on the M109 howitzer chassis. The American system used the European fire control system with an American search radar of greater range and enhanced ECCM capability. Initial production of fire units to equip 4 battalions and 1,000 missiles (against an anticipated requirement for 14,000) was approved in October 1978 but subsequently reduced to just 1 battalion. Difficulties in technology transfer, integration and commonality difficulties and rising costs meant only a single Army National Guard battalion (part of the 200th Air Defense Artillery Regiment) was ever equipped with the type, with the 27 launchers and 600 missiles installed on 6×6 flatbed trucks instead of tracked carriers. The XMIM 115 was never type classified and served for less than a decade, being retired in 1988.
purchased 4 Roland shelter mounted systems for static defense of fixed installations and one of these was deployed to defend Stanley airfield during the Falklands War with Britain in 1982. This system fired 8 out of the 10 missiles it was deployed with and is credited with shooting down one Royal Navy Sea Harrier and two general purpose bombs (although the British used air burst bomb in the conflict). This system was captured intact by the British and taken back to Britain. As a result of Operation Desert Storm in 1991 and Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003 these systems may no longer be in service. The launcher, one of four examples delivered to Argentina, was later captured in fairly intact condition by the British around Port Stanley after the surrender. It was taken back to Britain as a valuable prize and studied in detail. At around 11:00 pm on 17 January 1991, an A 6E TRAM Intruder from VA 35, AA 510 (BuNo 161668), crewed by Lt. Bob Wetzel and Lt. Jeff Zaun was attacked by two Rolands while attacking the H 3 Airfield in Western Iraq. The Roland did not set off the American built RWRs, meaning that it was hard to detect. After evading the first Roland, another one (which the crew didn't see), impacted the aircraft. The crew successfully ejected but were soon captured. On 19 January 1991, during the Gulf War a RAF Panavia Tornado GR.1 ZA396/GE, on a SEAD mission against the Iraqi air base at Tallil, was destroyed by a Roland. Both crew members ejected successfully, were taken prisoner and survived the war. The destruction of at least one USAF A 10 Thunderbolt, which occurred at around the same time, was later attributed to a Roland, by the Pentagon.