Taipei, Oct. 30 (CNA) The Ministry of National Defense (MND) on Sunday said the development of two domestically made military vehicles was on schedule, amid questions raised by opposition lawmakers.
In a press release, the MND said it already completed required initial weapon testing on a prototype of the eight-wheeled Clouded Leopard armored vehicle, which is fitted with locally-produced 105-mm assault guns, this June.
The domestic reconnaissance vehicle prototype has also just completed initial system integration on Friday as scheduled, according to the MND.
The MND said it expects the 1A to clear the initial weapon testing phase before the end of March in 2023, it added.
Before allowing a new weapon to enter mass production, it must pass through the other stages of the Taiwan military's five-step new-weapon development process.
The process includes initial conceptual design, related engineering development, initial weapon testing, and a combat readiness test.
The MND's press release was issued after a group of opposition Kuomintang (KMT) lawmakers recently proposed freezing part of the MND's proposed budget for fiscal year 2023 as they believe the two ongoing projects had suffered delays or made significant changes and are different from their original plan.
According to these lawmakers, the MND first proposed to fit the eight-wheeled Clouded Leopard armored vehicles with a foreign-made gun barrel. However, the MND later decided to use Taiwan-made gun barrels instead, lawmakers said.
In response, the MND said Sunday that it was forced to choose domestically made gun barrels because a private contractor has failed to deliver two foreign-made gun barrels on schedule.
The ministry said it has terminated its contract with the private contractor, which was fined and barred from applying for military tenders.
According to the MND's previous explanation, the domestically made gun barrel has 60 percent less recoil than the barrels currently in use.
The MND plans to mass produce a total of 282 eight-wheeled Clouded Leopard armored vehicles fitted with locally produced 105-mm assault guns from 2024 to 2036, making it the latest generation of the Clouded Leopard armored vehicles family.
Meanwhile, after building four prototypes of domestically made reconnaissance vehicles by 2024, the military plans to mass produce more than 300 reconnaissance vehicles to replace its Humvees.
