The National Army displays the Cheetah wheeled tank. Mass production next year is expected to be completed in 2033.

The Defense Weapons Agency yesterday demonstrated the Cheetah 105mm wheeled armored combat vehicle, which will begin mass production next year and is expected to last until 2033. The vehicle was jointly developed by the Weapons Bureau and the National Sun Yat-sen Institute of Science. The military has ordered 178 vehicles with a total budget of NT$57.07 billion (approximately US$1.8 billion).

At the Army's Southern Regional Joint Training and Evaluation Center at the 202nd Ordnance Factory in Tainan, the Cheetah demonstrated a variety of shooting techniques: rapid synchronized shooting of moving targets from stationary vehicles, shooting of stationary targets in moving "hunting mode", stationary shooting of stationary targets on slopes, and simultaneous multi-weapon shooting of moving targets on the move. A total of six rounds of high-explosive anti-tank fluorescent rounds were fired.

Compared with the Clouded Leopard D2 prototype, the Cheetah's body is more than 30 centimeters lower and its height is about 2.95 meters. It changes with the tire pressure but is always less than 3 meters. This design meets the Army's operational needs in various terrains (including underground passages and rough roads), and is especially beneficial for urban street fighting.

Lin Yumin, director of the Artillery Development Branch, said that the 105mm gun barrel is domestically developed and manufactured, and all parts from the barrel to the recoil mechanism are local parts. The gun generates 20 tons of recoil when fired (much lower than the 70 tons of the M60A3), and can control the impact point within a 90 cm diameter circle within a range of 1.2 kilometers; its armor-piercing projectiles can penetrate 500 mm homogeneous steel plates at a distance of 2 kilometers.

The vehicle tower was developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It adopts a dual-axis stabilization system and has a "hunting mode" similar to the M1A2T: when the gunner locks on the first target, the commander can search for the second target and take over the main gun to fire at the appropriate time.

The Weapons Bureau also showed a video of a remote-controlled weapon station destroying a drone. The station has an automatic channel tracking function and has been tested to intercept hard-kill drones. The vehicle will be equipped with a quick-detachable modular anti-drone net. Although the material has not yet been determined, it will be prioritized for mass production next year. The weapon station bracket will also be modified to accommodate a 25mm or larger chain gun or automatic cannon to accommodate the M230LF chain gun for Apache helicopters.

There are also two types of ammunition samples at the exhibition site: TC113 105mm stabilized sabot armor-piercing projectile and anti-personnel projectile. Although the US-made Haimas rocket system was displayed, it was not actually fired.

Additional reporting: Reuters

News source: Taipei Times

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