Roland surface to air missile being launched from US XM975 prototype launch vehicle.
Source: US Army -
© Public domain
Roland is a surface to air missile of French / German origin. It is a supersonic short range surface to air missile intended to engage helicopter and fast moving aircraft.
The Roland is fired from its launch tube using twin arm missile launcher. Roland comes as both armored self-propelled systems for frontline use and as static system mounted on a truck or shelter. The missile has a solid propellant rocket motor and gains initial velocity via a booster charge. The warhead is fitted with both contact and radar proximity fuse.
Roland 1 is a fair weather only system that uses an optical tracker which is manually operated by the gunner. The gunner tracks the target and the fire control system provides course adjustment to the missile via radio commands. The Roland 2 has a dual operating mode, adding the option for automated tracking via a fire control radar. This makes the Roland 2 an all weather system. Even during an engagement fire control modes can be switched.
The Roland 1 and 2 missiles can engage targets with speeds of up to Mach 1.2 can be engaged between 10 m and 5.5 km altitude at a range between 500 m and 6.3 km. One target can be engaged at a time. The Roland 3 is a faster flying missile with increased range an altitude limits. Lethal radius of the warhead is 8 m, or even more on the Roland 3.
The main users of the Roland system were France and Germany. The United States briefly adopted the system but withdrew from the project. The Roland was exported to several nations. Most notably Iraq, which used the system Iran-Iraq and Gulf wars.
Roland surface to air missile.
Source: Rama -
© GNU Attribution Share Alike license
The German army Marder Roland is a tracked armored launch vehicle for the Roland 2 surface to air missile.
The French army adopted the Roland on the AMX-30 chassis. It was produced in both Roland 1 (optical tracking) and Roland 2 (radar tracking) variants.
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