Roland (missile)
The Roland is a Franco-German mobile short-range surface-to-air missile system. The Roland was also purchased by the U.S. Army as one of very few foreign SAM systems.
Development
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 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 long delays and ever-increasing costs combined with inflation meant Roland was never procured in the numbers originally anticipated.Variants
The Roland SAM system was designed to engage enemy air targets flying at speeds of up to Mach 1.3 at altitudes between 20 meters and 5,500 meters with a minimum effective range of 500 meters and a maximum of 6,300 meters. The system can operate in optical or radar mode and can switch between these modes during an engagement. A pulse-doppler search radar with a range of 15–18 km detects the target which can then be tracked either by the tracking radar or an optical tracker. The optical channel would normally be employed only in daylight against very low-level targets or in a heavy jamming environment.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 system which can include a surveillance radar, a Roland Co-ordination Center, 8 Roland fire units and up to 8 guns.
Fire units
- ' – The initial fair-weather, daylight-only, version used by the French and Spanish armies on the AMX-30R chassis with entry into service in 1976. Roland 1 can also fire the Roland 2 and Roland 3 missiles.
- ' – This is the all-weather version mounted on the AMX-30R chassis, the Marder chassis and also as a shelter mount in either a static location or mounted on a 6×6 or 8×8 all-terrain truck. Euromissile, MaK, IBH and Blohm and Voss of Germany in 1983 proposed the Leopard 1 tank chassis as a carrier for the Roland system to appeal to those countries who already used the Leopard I tank. Roland 2 can also fire the Roland 3 missile.
- ' – Selected in 1975 as the forward air defense system for U.S. Army divisions, the first missiles were delivered in 1977 with the first firing from the XM975 launcher vehicle taking place in September 1978. American Roland was essentially Roland 2 with a longer-ranged American-made search radar. The palletized fire unit could be installed and rapidly removed from the XM975 chassis, installed on a truck or used as a static emplacement. Problems with technology transfer and rising costs 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.
- ' – Paladin was the Hughes/Euromissile submission for the US Army's Line of Sight, Forward-Heavy requirement. It proposed using the XM957 for trials, with production vehicles to use the Bradley chassis.
- ' – As part of the development process for the Roland 3 missile, Euromissile developed an upgraded launcher with 4 ready to fire missiles.
- ' – 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.
- – This system was an upgrade of existing French Roland 1/2 systems to maintain them in service through 2010. It included fitting the BBKS operator consoles and replacing the existing optical sight with the Glaive thermal imaging unit. France had a requirement to update 54 AMX30-based fire units and 20 shelter units with this new equipment. The upgraded fire unit could use either the existing Roland missile or the new Roland 3 missile.
- ' – Conversion of existing French Roland 2 systems into a shelter-mounted version of the M3S standard. France procured 20 trailer-borne systems. France intended the shelterised variants for use with air-transported rapid-deployment forces. The upgraded fire unit could use either the existing Roland missile or the new Roland 3 missile.
- ' – LVB, Luftverlastbarkeit, air-transportable. The Luftwaffe acquired 10 truck-mounted versions, similar to Roland CAROL, with integration into the Heeres Flugabwehr Aufklärungs-und Führungssystem air-defence command and control system. As with France, Germany intended the shelterised variants for use with air-transported rapid-deployment forces. The upgraded fire unit could user either the existing Roland missile or the new Roland 3 missile.
- – 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 and 40 Luftwaffe fire units. Trials had been completed in 2003 when Germany decided to withdraw Roland from use.
- Roland M3S – 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 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 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 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.
Missile variants
; : 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.
; : This was a joint project between the then Matra and Aerospatiale of France and MBB of Germany begun in 1987 for a missile with increased speed and range. RM5 was designed to achieve speeds of 1,600 m/s with the range increased to 10 km. The RM5 warhead had an 11 kg warhead with dual detonation modes, able to produce either large, high energy fragments for use against armoured targets, or larger numbers of smaller fragments for use against small targets. The companies had committed to only the preliminary design phase and when Germany and France opted not to fund full scale development in 1991 development of RM-5 ceased.
; VT1 : In September 1991 Euromissile and the then Thomson-CSF agreed to integrate the VT1 missile of the Crotale NG system into the Roland 3 system with retrofitting of French and German Roland fire units from 1996. Thales subsequently revoked the Euromissile license, but was ordered to pay Euromissile $109m in a subsequent court case.
; : 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.