FlaRakPz Komplex Marder Roland 2 NDV: Sword & Shield

Armen_Lozone · May 19, 2026, 9:01pm

FlaRakPz-Komplex Roland 2 NDV

History and Introduction

The Roland air defense missile system was developed in co-operation between Germany and France, specifically, Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB) and Aérospatiale producing the weapon system and EuroMissile producing the Roland 1, 2 and 3 series of missiles.

The story of the Roland in the German air defense duty starts with the FlaRakPz Roland 2. Unlike their French counterparts, the germans chose to delay the induction of the roland until the Roland 2 had been developed. The main difference between the Roland 1 and Roland 2 (systems) is that the Roland 1 was a purely Day time and clear weather system, operating fully on a passive InfraRed tracking sight assisted by a search radar.

Roland 1 prototype for the german army
As can be seen, it does not have a tracking radar

The later prototype for the Roland 1 did not fare much better in their eyes either.

FlaRakPz Roland 1 prototype

The Germans did not consider this satisfactory and thus the Roland 2 was developed with a dedicated Tracking radar in tandem with the IR sight. Initially, the system was only mounted on the Marder chassis in active service.

But this was only for the bundeswehr. The Luftwaffe also needed an air defense system to protect their airfields, for this reason, the same Roland 2 system was mounted on a MAN CAT 1 8x8 truck chassis. While this was a much lighter vehicle by mass as compard to the Marder variant, it was by no means light enough to be air transportable. Thus, a lighter 6x6 chassis was outfitted with the SARO (Roland self contained system). It was named the Roland Luftverlastbar (LVB) used to allow the entire vehicle to be airlifted to far away combat areas.

Named the Roland LVB, the French also created their own version of the LVB.

Spoiler

That brings the total number of Roland variants that were in service for the German military to 3:

FlaRakPz Roland 2
FlaRakRad Roland 2
FlaRakRad Roland 2 LVB

But theres more… In came the NDV program. In the 1990s, the air threat situation was changing. The rolands were estimated to be retired soon, around 2002-2003 unless changes were made.

So, in the year 2000, Germany awarded a contract to LFK GmbH to upgrade the Roland weapon systems to the NDV standard. In english, basically SLE (service life extension). If accepted into service, the Rolands would remain operational upto 2015.

According to the Military History Museum of the German Armed Forces, the 1 FlaRakPz 1A1 Roland 2 and 2 FlaRakRad 1 Roland 2 vehicles participated in the upgrade. They were designated FlaRakPz 1A2(v?) Roland 2 and FlaRakRad 2 Roland 2 respectively. The FlaRakPz 1A2 was the most clearly documented, but the upgrades were similar across both vehicles.

They were given upgraded systems including new digital computers with Mil-Bus connections, an integrated self test system, improvements to missile guidance such as adapted guidance laws for the ROLAND 2 and ROLAND 3 missiles, wireless connection to HFlaAFüSys, multifunction displays and adjustments to peripheral devices, probably including a new “Glaive” IR sight.

Troop trials commenced with the vehicles being tested for their utility up to the year 2003. However, it was decided to retire the Rolands that very same year. The LeFlaSys Ozelot in tandem with its AFF Wiesel 2 radar carrier were the interim successors of the SHORAD complex until the IRIS-T SLS system is adopted into service (which, ironically, has been beaten into service by the SLM).

Fla-Rak-Komplex LeFlaSys

The system that completes the Fla-Rak-Pz-Komplex Roland 2 NDV is the Radar Panzer Tiefflieger Überwachungsradar. It is a highly modified Marder/TH-301 chassis equipped with an extending arm which hosts a Siemens 2D Pulse Doppler radar.

It can provide early warning and target acquisition and designation functions as well as TWS for the combined air defence systems in the area including gun based SPAAGs and static Skyguard systems and similar.
The Tiefflieger Überwachungsradar (TÜR) was intended to be deployed, 1 per each roland regiment, however, the TÜR never fully satisfied the Bundeswehrs demands and was not adopted into service.

Complete list of all German Roland variants

FlaRakPz Roland 1 (RU243 chassis)
FlaRakPz 1 Roland 1
FlaRakPz 1 Roland 2
FlaRakPz 1A2 Roland 2 NDV
FlaRakRad Roland 2
FlaRakRad Roland 2 LVB
FlaRakRad 2 Roland 2 NDV
FlaRakRad Roland 3
FlaRakRad/Pz VT-1 compatibility testbed

Specifications: TÜR

Crew: 3 (Commander, Radio operator, Driver)

—Dimensions and mass—
Mass: 35t
Length: 7.2m
Width: 3.27m
Height: 3.58m
Mast height: 11.5m

—Mobility—
Engine: 6 cylinder Diesel MB 833 Ea-500
Engine power: 600PS

—Radar—
Siemens MPDR 3002-S 2D Pulse Doppler radar
Band: D-Band
Cycles: 40rpm (two modes)
Radar search range: 30km
Radar search altitude: 3km
Maximum tracked targets:
Maximum targets engaged targets: