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The Battle of Malvinas, despite its short duration, has multifaceted characteristics in military operations, which is why it has deserved a special place in the history of modern war conflicts.
A little-known aspect is the anti-aircraft (AA) operations, carried out with the Roland missile system, which cost the British forces four downed planes.
Background
In November 1981, two Roland Fire Units (UF) joined the Argentine Army, which were integrated into the batteries of the Mixed Air Defense Group 602 (ADA Mix 602) based in the town of Camet, near Mar del Plata. Shortly before, a small group of officers and non-commissioned officers returned from France, who had completed a primary course in France to operate and maintain this new defensive element.
Argentine Army's Roland in Malvinas
It is an AA missile system, operating all weather, against aggressor aircraft flying at medium and low altitudes with an effective range of 6,500 meters. The Roland can fire its missiles optically with manual guidance or radarically with automatic guidance. The UF is made up of the surveillance radar, the firing radar, the optical sight, two missile launcher arms, a missile tank, a generator and a cockpit operated by a unit leader and an optical mode aimer. The UF module is mounted on a trailer and is towed by a truck tractor with a total weight of 20 tons, requiring a paved or consolidated road for filming.
The deployment
Once the events of the recovery of the Malvinas Islands were known on April 2, the transfer of the two UF from Mar del Plata to Puerto Deseado by ship was arranged, to then cross to the archipelago. However, upon arriving at this port, the ship suffers a serious damage to its hull that prevents it from continuing navigation. The two Rolands were unloaded and moved to Comodoro Rivadavia by road. Arriving in this city, the one with the greatest military activity in Patagonia, the superiors decided to send Battery "B" of the ADA Mix 602 by air to Puerto Argentino, so that the remaining battery could serve as anti-aircraft defense of the Comodoro Airport.Because the transfer of the Roland system requires being transported by two C-130 Hercules simultaneously, Battery "B" was only able to make the crossing to the islands on April 26, 1982.
ADA Mix 602's Battery "B" was composed of:
Roland Section (1 UF, 30 missiles and two 20 mm Oerlikon cannons)
Tiger Cat Section (3 UF clear-weather operational missiles)
Both sections were added to the 601st Air Defense Artillery Group (GADA 601) upon arriving at Puerto Argentino.
The preparations
Given the recentness of its incorporation, the Roland operators had no experience, except what they had done in the primary course in France. For this reason, once the system was operational, the Section Chief, 1st Lieutenant Regalini, and his men took advantage of the flight of the planes carrying out the airlift to gain experience with the use of search radar, tracking optical, etc. It is worth noting that the spare parts and other maintenance elements had not yet arrived in Argentina when the system was deployed, therefore work had to be done on the harmonization of the UF components and on the maintenance of 2nd. step. Different places were also recognized for possible position changes and the location of the 20 mm cannons that would cover the missile's blind spot.The Roland in combat
Around 05.00 a.m. On May 1, an RAF AVRO Vulcan aircraft carries out the first air attack on the Malvinas Airport. A few hours later, the Sea Harriers of the Royal Navy attempted to damage the runway, but one of them was detected by the Roland's radar and 1st Sergeant Zelaya successfully fired a missile with optical tracking, achieving the first kill for the Section. In this procedure, the radar focuses the optronic camera towards where the aggressor is approaching. The image is presented on a screen that has a grid that can be moved by a sphere; With it, the aimer guides the missile, keeping the target within that grid.
The Roland of Puerto Argentino chases the Harrier by Ian Mortimer (painting by Daniel Bechennec)
The remaining victories were achieved on May 25, June 2 and 12, all of them in radar (automatic) mode. On one occasion, a shot was fired at a Harrier, but as the missile approached its target, it coincided with an upward maneuver carried out by the pilot of the British ship to drop a bomb. Finally, the missile hits the launched weapon, as it has a greater radial speed with respect to the firing radar at that moment.
On June 3, a Srike anti-radar missile fired from a Vulcan exploded against a Skyguard fire director of the 35 mm Oerlikon guns (*). For this reason, the Headquarters ordered the operators of the shooting radars to avoid leaving them on permanently. This limitation was a new challenge for the Argentine soldiers, where temper, intelligence and even mischief had to be put into play to be able to intermittently "illuminate" the attacking planes with the radar in order to fire the AA weapons.
MBDA paint
The Roland system had a high availability rate during the conflict; of the 50 days it operated in the Malvinas, the only UF was stopped for two days due to a broken generator and another five due to failures in the firing radar (it could be used optics). Generally, for every 20 hours of use, three hours of operational maintenance were performed and the personnel affected by its operation maintained 16 hours of on-call and eight hours of rest. To this effort it must be added that every two days or after a missile was fired, the UF was changed position to avoid being located by enemy naval fire. The Roland and the 155 mm guns were the most sought after targets by the British on the islands.
The brave men of the Roland Section of Battery "B" of the ADA Mix 602 endured the inclement weather, the naval and land bombardment, the difficult soft and humid terrain, like all the troops deployed, but thanks to SANTA BARBARA, patron saint of the artillerymen, their members returned to their homes unharmed.
(*) Lieut. died in this attack. 1st Alejandro Dachary, Sgt. 1º Pascual Blanco, s/c Jorge Llamas and s/c Oscar Diarte.
The author thanks non-commissioned officers Jorge Zelaya and Luis Marinkovic - both Roland operators during the Battle of Malvinas - for their fundamental contribution to the completion of this work.
PARA CUADROS
Roland Section Staff
("B" Batery / ADA Mix 602) Malvinas Islands, 1982
1st Lieutenant Carlos Regalini (Section Chief)
Second Lieutenant Diego Noguer (20 mm Oerlikon Chief)
1st Sergeant Jorge Zelaya
1st Sergeant Oscar Molina
Sergeant Ángel Palomeque
Sergeant Luis Marinkovic
1st Corporal Ramón Villoldo
1st Corporal Ramón Martínez
Corporal Hugo Navarro
Corporal Carlos Bonetti
S/c 63 Miguel Ferreyra
S/c 63 Víctor González
S/c 63 Mario Molina
S/c 63 Claudio Prado
Effectiveness summary
Roland system
according to ADA Mix 602 records
8 missiles fired
4 planes shot down (all Harriers)
1 missile hit a bomb
2 missiles dodged by evasive maneuvers
(attacks aborted)
1 defective missile
Note: All the planes fell into the sea, their fall path was recorded by the Roland's radar and in two of the cases they were seen falling with the naked eye.
Ricardo Burzaco
DeySeg