Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND) said Monday that the development of the domestically produced Clouded Leopard armored vehicle is on schedule following reports the project was set to be shelved.
Earlier on Monday, the Chinese-language United Daily News (UDN) reported that the Army had decided to halt the development of the Clouded Leopard after discovering the vehicle's dimensions, its height, in particular, were unsuited to mass production.
Responding to the UDN report, the MND said in a press statement that two prototypes of the eight-wheeled vehicles, which come equipped with 105-millimeter assault guns, had successfully completed required engineering development tests.
The MND added that the dimensions of the prototypes, including height, met the required standards.
According to the MND, the prototypes have also passed shooting precision and stability tests, and are now undergoing the initial weapons testing phase, which is expected to be completed this October.
Before a new weapon can enter mass production, it must pass through the MND's five-step development process: initial conceptual design, engineering development, initial weapon testing, and combat readiness testing.
The ongoing testing is the fourth stage of the process.
However, the MND did not say when it would begin to mass-produce the vehicles.
According to the MND's budget proposal submitted to the Legislative Yuan, the military plans to mass-produce 282 next-generation Clouded Leopard armored vehicles fitted with locally produced 105mm assault guns from 2024 to 2036.
The MND's Armament Bureau has budgeted NT$769 million (US$24.8 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.
The Armament Bureau has commissioned the CM-32 and CM-33 variants of the Clouded Leopard armored vehicle, officially called the Taiwan Infantry Fighting Vehicle, 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.
