The military is investing NT$1.48 billion (US$46.26 million) over five years to upgrade Taiwan’s fleet of CM-32 Clouded Leopard armored personnel vehicles (APVs) and its variants after numerous reports of issues in the mainstay of the nation’s ground troops.
The funds are to be spent on an “eight-wheeled APV maintenance project,” with next year’s NT$50 million marking the first year of the project, the Ministry of National Defense’s proposed budget for the next fiscal year showed.
More than 50 vehicles reported cracks in their bulletproof plating in July and last month, including 27 CM-34s, the variant armed with 30mm autocannons manufactured within the past two years, and 23 CM-32s and CM-33s that have exceeded warranty.
Photo: Taipei Times
The army first discovered the cracks in July last year, the Armaments Bureau said.
As of Aug. 1, the military had swapped out the front swash plates for two vehicles and soldered the cracked plates of 42 vehicles, the bureau said.
Repeated tests show that the repairs would not affect the vehicles’ bullet-resistant capabilities.
The army is in talks with contractors on possible causes, the source said.
The source added that despite the bureau’s claims that repairs have been carried out, the ministry’s budget for next year shows that other issues need fixing.
In addition, the Clouded Leopard series has experienced persistent problems with the hydraulic pumps and power chassis, primarily because the APV contractors purchased low-grade hydraulic pumps when manufacturing the vehicles in 2015.
Many of the vehicles with issues are currently in service, and it was impossible to correct them all at once, the military said.
Thirty-three people were indicted in October 2015, including military officers and contractors, after an investigation found evidence of bid-rigging, bribery, fraud, misconduct in not carrying out proper testing and other illegal activities.
Contractors imported refurbished hydraulic pumps from China for NT$35,000 per unit, but charged the ministry NT$150,000 each, and recorded steering mechanisms that cost NT$23,000 per unit as NT$190,000 each, the investigation found.
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