Roland ( missile ) 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 target s 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 CT - 20 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 ( 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 . Current systems are capable of launching Roland 2 , 3 or VT1 missiles . Roland ' s latest upgraded versions have limited ability to counter incoming low RCS munitions ( large - caliber heavyweight rockets ) . Carriers . The Roland system has been installed on a variety of platforms , amongst them : Roland 2 was proposed in the early 1980s for installation on the Leopard I tank chassis , probably to meet an expected Dutch army requirement but was never built . In configuration it would have been very similar to the AMX - 30R . American Roland on the M109 chassis was built in prototype form but production systems were rather hastily installed on 6x6 flatbed trucks . An airliftable shelter named Roland CAROL has also been developed , which is a 7 . 8t container that can be deployed on the ground to protect fixed assets like airfields or depots or fitted on an ACMAT truck . Combat Use . On 1 June 1982 , during the Falklands War , Sea Harrier nº XZ456 was shot down south of Stanley by members of the GADA 601 , an Argentine antiaircraft unit deployed in the area . The launcher , one of four examples delivered to Argentina , was 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 . It is believed that an Iraqi Roland missile succeeded in shooting down an American A - 10 Thunderbolt II at the beginning of the Iraq War , during the battle of Baghdad . Rolandgate . In October 2003 , controversy erupted between Poland and France when Polish forces from the Multinational force in Iraq found French Roland surface - to - air missiles . Polish and international press reported that Polish officers claimed these missiles had been manufactured in 2003 . France pointed out that the latest Roland missiles were manufactured in the early 1990s and thus the manufacturing date was necessarily an error ( it turned out it was probably the expiry date that was indicated ) , and affirmed that it had never sold weapons to Iraq in violation of the embargo . Investigations by the Polish authorities came to the conclusion that the persons responsible for the scandal were low level commanders . Wojskowe Służby Informacyjne , the Polish Army ' s intelligence unit , had not verified their claims before they were leaked to the press . Poland apologized to France for the scandal , but these allegations against France worsened the already somewhat strained relationships between the two countries . The entire incident was sarcastically called " Rolandgate " by the Polish media , using the unofficial naming conventions of US political scandals after Watergate .