FlaRakPz 1

FlaRakPz 1

Gepard 1A2

◊Osa-AK

FlaRakPz 1

Gepard 1A2

◊Osa-AK

Germany

VII Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
10.0	10.3	10.3

Class:

SPAA

Research:300 000

Purchase:830 000

Description

Starting development in 1963 and fielded from 1977 onwards, the Roland Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) was a cornerstone of NATO air defense for multiple decades. The Roland SAM was developed as a Franco-German collaboration project, originally intended to defend airfields and frontline formations from enemy fixed and rotary wing aviation. The FlaRakPz 1 was one of the hulls modified to carry this new SAM, with the base hull being taken from the Marder IFV. The Roland turret comes equipped with both a search and track radar, as well as an optical tracking system for use in good atmospheric conditions or in heavy jamming environments. It could fire the Roland 2 and Roland 3 SAMs, with the Roland 3 being an upgraded variant of the Roland 2 in terms of missile speed, warhead size and better guidance systems for all weather conditions. The FlaRakPz units were all retired in 2005, with its successor system (planned to be the LFK NG, a variant of the IRIS-T AAM) being cancelled in 2011 and its SHORAD (SHOrt Range Air Defense) role was transferred to the German Air Force instead.

Introduced in Update 1.89 "Imperial Navy", the FlaRakPz 1 is Germany's preferred vehicle of choice for use against enemy rotary aviation; the missiles don't require a lock to fire like the Ozelot and Gepard 1A2's Stinger MANPADS surface-to-air missiles, and as the vehicle is equipped with an Infra-Red Search and Track radar (IRST), it can discreetly scan and lock enemy aircraft without alerting their RWRs. However, as the missiles have noticeable input delay when pulling in, they often struggle against fixed wing aviation, with even fairly low agility aircraft able to do a corkscrew style manoeuvre only for the Roland SAM to be unable to compensate and miss entirely. The missiles also have minimal penetrative capabilities against armour, unlike the dual-purpose MIM146 of the ADATS, and if your missile is still airborne you are forced to wait out the flight duration or wait for the missile to detonate to start reloading. Overall, while the FlaRakPz 1 certainly has a niche, it's sadly held back by the very niche filling role it has due to a lack of flexibility against enemy targets.

General info

Survivability and armour

Smoke grenades

Creation of a smoke screen in front of the vehicle

Armourfront / side / back

Hull32 / 15 / 11

Turret15 / 15 / 15

Crew3 people

Visibility-1154 %

Describe armour protection. Note the most well protected and key weak areas. Appreciate the layout of modules as well as the number and location of crew members. Is the level of armour protection sufficient, is the placement of modules helpful for survival in combat? If necessary use a visual template to indicate the most secure and weak zones of the armour.

Armour type:

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	___ mm	___ mm Top ___ mm Bottom	___ mm	___ - ___ mm
Turret	___ - ___ mm Turret front ___ mm Gun mantlet	___ - ___ mm	___ - ___ mm	___ - ___ mm
Cupola	___ mm	___ mm	___ mm	___ mm

Notes:

Mobility

Reverse gearbox

Forward and backward movement is possible at the same maximum speed

Speedforward / back

AB82 / 82 km/h

RB and SB75 / 75 km/h

Number of gears8 forward

8 back

Weight32.5 t

Engine power

AB1 145 hp

RB and SB600 hp

Power-to-weight ratio

AB35.2 hp/t

RB and SB18.5 hp/t

Game Mode	Max Speed (km/h)		Weight (tons)	Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Forward	Reverse		Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	82	82	32.5	852	1,145	26.22	35.23
Realistic	75	75		531	600	16.34	18.46

The FlaRakPz 1 is powered by a MTU MB 833 Ea-500 that produces 441 kW (600 hp) at 2,200 RPM.

Modifications and economy

Repair costBasic → Reference

AB4 682 → 6 723

RB4 739 → 6 805

SB5 428 → 7 794

Total cost of modifications242 000

409 000

Talisman cost2 900

Crew training240 000

Experts830 000

Aces2 100

Research Aces1 140 000

Reward for battleAB / RB / SB

160 / 200 / 240 %

238 / 238 / 238 %

Modifications

Mobility	Protection	Firepower
Tracks Research: 18 000 Cost: 28 000 440 Suspension Research: 12 000 Cost: 19 000 290 Brake System Research: 12 000 Cost: 19 000 290 Filters Research: 16 000 Cost: 25 000 390 Transmission Research: 17 000 Cost: 26 000 410 Engine Research: 17 000 Cost: 26 000 410	Improved Parts Research: 5 400 Cost: 28 000 440 Improved FPE Research: 3 600 Cost: 19 000 290 Crew Replenishment Research: 16 000 Cost: 25 000 390	Horizontal Drive Research: 18 000 Cost: 28 000 440 163mm_roland_3_aam_ammo_pack Research: 12 000 Cost: 19 000 290 Airstrike Research: 12 000 Cost: 19 000 290 Elevation Mechanism Research: 16 000 Cost: 25 000 390 Smoke grenade Research: 16 000 Cost: 25 000 390 Artillery Support Research: 17 000 Cost: 26 000 410 Rangefinder Research: 17 000 Cost: 26 000 410 Improved optics Research: 17 000 Cost: 26 000 410

Armaments

Main armament

Roland SAM

Autoloader

Automatically feeds projectiles into the breech. The speed does not depend on the skills of the loader

Ammunition10 rounds

Belt capacity2 rounds

Reload5.0 s

Fire rate145 shots/min

Vertical guidance-10° / 80°

Fire on the moveup to 5 km/h

Roland SAM (x2)					Turret rotation speed (°/s)					Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode	Capacity (Belt)	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer	Stock	Upgraded	Full	Expert	Aced	Autoloader
Arcade	10 (2)	-10°/+80°	±180°	N/A	74.9	103.6	125.8	139.1	148.0	5.00
Realistic					50.6	59.5	72.3	79.9	85.0

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
		10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
Roland 2	SAM	39	39	39	39	39	39
Roland 3	SAM	54	54	54	54	54	54

Missile details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Range (m)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Arming distance (m)	Trigger radius (m)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg)	Ricochet
										0%	50%	100%
Roland 2	SAM	500	6,300	65	1	0.1	300	6	4.59	79°	80°	81°
Roland 3	SAM	570	8,000	77	1	0.1	300	6	6.81	79°	80°	81°

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the XM975 (identical).

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
5	4 (+1)	3 (+2)	2 (+3)	1 (+4)	No

Usage in battles

Arcade Battles

The FlaRakPz 1 does not have any additional armaments to attack other vehicles or protect itself, limiting its offensive ability towards even slightly-armoured targets. Due to this, moving any distance from the spawn point will result in death due to the thin armour and increased visibility, due to vehicle markers, making the FlaRakPz 1 an easy target. Both the Roland 2 and Roland 3 SAMs have a maximum speed of 900 m/s, with payloads of 3.3 kg and 4.45 kg of Composition B respectably, more than enough to deal with the only aircraft type (helicopters) it will encounter in this game mode. Moving alongside allies or waiting in or near spawn areas - where the FlaRakPz 1 has the best view of the sky - will be rewarding as when engaging medium to heavily armoured units, the explosive mass of the missiles will be most useful in destroying or disabling targets, requiring knowledge of vulnerable spots on enemy vehicles to deliver a finishing blow. Due to the large explosive mass of both missiles, it can destroy light targets with overpressure.

Realistic Battles

In Realistic Battles, the vehicle's primary purpose is as an anti-aircraft weapon. There is no weapons on the FlaRakPz 1 that can serve as meaningful anti-armour tools (although the Roland 3's 54 mm of penetration can allow creative players to penetrate through light-armour or tank roofs) and the armour may as well be nonexistent. The vehicle is quite mobile however, and so the mobility should be used alongside the FlaRakPz 1's excellent radars by getting into optimal positions to search and engage targets.

The FlaRakPz 1's battlefield performance is greatly assisted by its SAG MPDR-16 search radar. Able to search targets up to 16 kilometers away in a 360 degree angle, the FlaRakPz 1 can serve as a really good warning indicator to alert teammates of any incoming airborne threats. Accompanying the search radar is the Thomson-CSF Domino 30 tracking radar that allows the FlaRakPz 1 player to begin locking onto targets from 12 kilometers away, which can allow a lot of breathing room for players to first locate the aerial target, track it, then engage once it approaches the Roland missile's firing range (6.3 km on the Roland 2 and 8 km on the Roland 3).

One issue with the above mentioned attack strategy is when encountering an aircraft with a radar-warning receiver (RWR). The FlaRakPz 1's searching and tracking function will trigger their RWR, leading them to know a radar-equipped SPAA is present and will perform evasive manoeuvre such as using the terrain to mask itself. To prevent this, the FlaRakPz 1's search radar can be configured to use the Infrared Search and Track (IRST) feature, which tracks the enemy by its heat instead of by radar. This benefits by not notifying the enemy that a radar has got it locked, but the IRST feature may produce less accurate tracking than radar.

Once the FlaRakPz 1 has gotten an aerial target locked on by radar or IRST, fire a Roland 2/3 missile once the enemy aircraft has gotten into range. The missile is controlled by "semi-automatic command to line of sight" (SACLOS) which only requires the player to place the crosshair onto target and the missile will head towards the crosshair's center. Pointing directly at an aerial target will only be simple if attacking a hovering helicopter or a jet heading right towards the FlaRakPz 1, however most of the time when fighting fast-moving jets, the player-controlled crosshair may be able to track the aircraft faster than the missile. This will require the player to lead ahead of the aircraft with the crosshair, keeping an eye on the trailing missile to make sure its tracer is hovering right on top of the aircraft so that once it reaches the aircraft's range, it will detonate and take out or cripple the aircraft.

Note that the Roland missiles can be fired from the FlaRakPz 1 without a radar lock in case of emergencies, however this may require players to work a little harder to keep the FlaRakPz 1's turret continually pointing towards the enemy aircraft as the search/track radar does give some assistance in keeping the locked enemy in front of the FlaRakPz 1 turret. That said, the advantage of the FlaRakPz 1's ability to fire without a lock means that the enemy aircraft's countermeasures like flares or chaff will not affect the Roland missile flight, keeping the probability of a hit narrowed down to the player's skill and the enemy aircraft's ability to evade.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Has Roland 3 missiles as a tier 2 modification, increasing the vehicle's offensive range to 8.5 km
• Roland 2 and Roland 3 missiles are reactive and manoeuvrable
• Active radar system with a scan range of 15 km
• Slightly higher-than-average max speed (70 km/h)
• Autoloader with 5-second reload
• Roland SAMs maintain their top speed up until their respective max range, and do not decelerate like other SAMs

Cons:

• Significantly lower missile velocity compared to the ADATS (1,200 m/s) and Stormer HVM (1,400 m/s)
• Only two missiles available before having to reload
• Lack of additional armament for close-range or armoured targets

History

Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the vehicle in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the vehicle and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).

Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the FlaRakPz 1 from live.warthunder.com.

Videos

German SPAAs discusses the FlaRakPz 1 at 6:15 - War Thunder Official Channel

FlaRakPz 1: Sparking Fun with SAMs - Napalmratte

New anti-air defence discusses the FlaRakPz 1 at 3:44 - War Thunder Official Channel

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the series of the vehicles;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

• MTU Defense Brochure

Germany anti-aircraft vehicles
Wheeled	Sd.Kfz.222
Half-track	Sd.Kfz.251/21 · Sd.Kfz. 6/2
Flakpanzer IV	Wirbelwind · Ostwind · Ostwind II · Kugelblitz · Zerstörer 45
Other Flakpanzers	Flakpanzer I · Flakpanzer 38 · Flakpanzer 341
Wiesel AWC	Wiesel 1A4 · Ozelot
Radar SPAAG	Gepard · Gepard 1A2
Missile SPAA	FlaRakPz 1 · FlaRakRad