The military plans to start installing locally produced 105mm assault guns on its eight-wheeled Clouded Leopard armored vehicles next month, a military source said yesterday.
After they are installed, the military would from March begin testing the guns’ capabilities, they said.
The domestically made gun barrel has 60 percent less recoil than the imported barrels used previously, the source said, adding that its ammunition would also have better penetration.
Photo: Liao Yao-tung, Taipei Times
Before a new weapon can enter mass production, it must pass through the military’s five-step development process.
The March tests would be the third step in the process.
After the assault guns have entered mass production, vehicles mounted with them would be deployed in the military’s newly formed combined-arms battalions, the source said.
The Ministry of National Defense’s Armament Bureau has budgeted NT$769 million (US$27.74 million) from 2019 to 2023 to build two prototypes of the vehicles that are to be equipped with the 105mm assault gun.
They would be the newest generation of the Clouded Leopard armored vehicle family.
Officially called the Taiwan Infantry Fighting Vehicle, the Armament Bureau has so far commissioned the indigenous CM-32 and CM-33 Clouded Leopard armored vehicles and has begun mass production of the CM-34 model.
The CM-32 and CM-33 models are armed with 40mm automatic grenade launchers, while the CM-34 versions are armed with the Orbital ATK 30mm Mk44 Bushmaster II cannon, which has a firing range of more than 2km.
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