ROLAND Weapon System – The end of 40 years of bilateral cooperation with France
After the last Bundeswehr ROLAND system had been decommissioned, the German-French project was completed at the end of 2006.
After a period of four decades the German-French cooperation in the ROLAND surface-to-air missile system program has finally come to an end. OCCAR took this as an opportunity to hold an official closing ceremony at the French Rueil-Malmaison near Paris on 30 November 2006. Among the guests there were active and former representatives of the German and French governments, forces and defense companies.
Head of the German delegation was the Director of the Project Directorate of the Federal Office of Defense Technology and Procurement, Uwe Giesecke. In his speech on this special occasion, he looked back at the 40 years of successful bilateral cooperation and placed particular emphasis on the importance of the ROLAND project for the German-French armaments cooperation. He particularly thanked all those who had contributed to the success of the project with their work and endurance.
The development of the bilateral weapon system ROLAND started off in cooperation with France in the year 1965. The system was designed to be mounted onto specially adapted carrier vehicles (tracked or wheeled vehicles) and to be integrated in these vehicles. The bilateral procurement of the surface-to-air missile system developed and qualified in cooperation with France started in the year 1978. In Germany, the weapon system was used by the army, the air force and the navy. As a result of the decision titled “Further Development of the Reform of the Bundeswehr” (reorientation of the Bundeswehr) of 20 February 2003 the ROLAND weapon system will no longer be required. The consequence of this decision was that the last ROLAND weapon system was decommissioned by the Bundeswehr at the end of 2005.
To coordinate the system’s entire life cycle, a national project management was established in the Federal Office of Defense Technology and Procurement (BWB) for the concerns of the German party. The project management’s tasks were not just limited to development, testing, procurement and use; they were also concentrated on harmonizing and developing common military and technical requirements which are reflected in many bilateral Memoranda of Understanding. In addition, bilateral guidelines were prepared to harmonize the national rules and procedures concerning the activities in connection with the development, test, procurement and in-service phases between Germany and France.
The bilateral armaments activities were controlled by the German-French Program Office (Bureau de Programmes Franco-Allemand, BPFA) in Rueil-Malmaison which after the foundation of OCCAR was transferred to this organization as the OCCAR-ROLAND Programme Division.
