Taiwan has earmarked 57.07 billion New Taiwan dollars ($1.7 billion) in its 2027 defense budget for the acquisition of 178 locally produced Cheetah 105mm wheeled armored vehicles. The procurement is planned across the 2027–2033 period and will start with eight vehicles in the first year. The number of deliveries is expected to rise annually as the Republic of China Army replaces decommissioned M41D light tanks that were previously stationed on Taiwan’s offshore islands and throughout the Hualien-Taitung area in the east. The decision follows the successful evaluation of the Cheetah’s final prototype in the previous year. The vehicle was jointly developed by Taiwan’s Armaments Bureau and the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology. It uses an 8×8 configuration and features a reduced height of 2.9 meters (9.5 feet), allowing it to combine heavy firepower with wheeled mobility. The Cheetah can achieve 100 kilometers (62 miles) per hour and has a stated operational range of 500 kilometers (311 miles). Its main armament is a 105mm rifled cannon. Additional weapons include a 12.7mm remote weapon station, a 7.62mm coaxial machine gun, and a 12-barrel smoke grenade launcher. The vehicle’s dual-axis stabilized turret allows engagements while the vehicle is moving. It also incorporates an integrated hunter-killer target acquisition system with capabilities comparable to those found on Taiwan’s M1A2T Abrams main battle tanks. The Cheetah can reportedly defeat 500 millimeters (20 inches) of steel armor at 2,000 meters (6,562 feet). Its mobility specifications include a 60-percent tilt limit, 45-centimeter (18-inch) obstacle clearance, and the ability to cross water obstacles up to 70 centimeters (28 inches) deep. The vehicle program is only one element of Taiwan’s wider ground-force modernization effort in response to increasing pressure from Beijing. The same defense budget sets aside 10.7 billion New Taiwan dollars ($337.2 million) for 4,647 light tactical vehicles. Another 79.5 billion New Taiwan dollars ($2.5 billion) is allocated for replacing CM21 armored personnel carriers with 410 wheeled combat vehicles armed with 30mm and 40mm systems.
