Taiwan Live-Fires Its Cheetah 105 mm Wheeled Gun Ahead of 2027 Production of 178 Vehicles

Taiwan's army held a live-fire demonstration for the media on September 23 of the Cheetah, an eight-wheeled armored vehicle armed with a 105 mm gun, at the Army Southern Area Joint Training and Evaluation Center in Tainan. Janes reported that the example shown was the production-standard variant.

The crew fired six 105 mm high-explosive anti-tank tracer (HEAT-T) rounds, according to the Taipei Times and Janes. Janes listed four engagement modes: static-to-moving, moving-to-static, static-to-static and moving-to-moving. The sequence also included firing from a slope, reported by the Taipei Times and The War Zone, and what Janes described as a hunter-killer engagement at 1,000 meters against a simulated amphibious infantry fighting vehicle. The War Zone put the moving target at about 0.75 mile and the stationary target at about 0.6 mile.

One of the six rounds did not fire. According to The War Zone, the crew waited about two minutes, in line with safety protocol, before reloading and firing successfully, and the head of Arsenal 202, the Armaments Bureau facility that builds the vehicle, said an investigation would examine the misfire.

The Taipei Times reported that the gun places its rounds within a 90 cm circle at 1.2 km and penetrates 500 mm of homogeneous steel at 2 km. The same report put the weapon's recoil force at 20 metric tons, against 70 metric tons for the gun of the M60A3, and the vehicle's height at about 2.95 m, some 30 cm lower than the earlier D2 prototype. The War Zone reported that steering on three of the vehicle's four axles cuts the turning radius from 36 feet to 26 feet, and that the main gun is paired with a 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun; Janes also mentioned a 12.7 mm remote weapon station.

The Cheetah was developed jointly by the Ministry of National Defense's Armaments Bureau and the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, and is derived from the Clouded Leopard 8x8 family, of which GlobalMilitary.net lists 378 CM-32 vehicles in service with the army. Janes described its role as direct-fire support for counter-landing and territorial-defense operations, and the arsenal's director said it would give greater convenience and maneuverability in urban combat, according to the Taipei Times. Among other wheeled gun vehicles, Italy's Centauro is an 8x8 design that also carries a 105 mm gun.

The new vehicle arrives in a force whose tank park is still built around the 105 mm caliber. GlobalMilitary.net data list 1,018 active main battle tanks in Taiwan's inventory: 460 M60A3 TTS and 450 CM11 Brave Tiger, both armed with the M68 105 mm rifled gun, and 108 M1A2T Abrams with a 120 mm gun. That leaves 910 of the 1,018 tanks on a 105 mm weapon. Whether the Cheetah shares ammunition with the M68 has not been stated. The demonstration took place against a backdrop of daily Chinese military activity around the island, tracked on GlobalMilitary.net's China–Taiwan tracker.

According to the Taipei Times, the army plans to procure 178 Cheetahs between 2027 and 2033 under a budget of NT$57.07 billion (about US$1.8 billion), with the first eight vehicles due in 2027. The War Zone reported that planned additions include an anti-drone cage and possibly a 30 mm M230 chain gun for counter-drone work.