Combat buses … Taiwan, which is separated from mainland China by the Taiwan Strait up to 150 kilometers wide, became the last refuge of the Kuomintang government. Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, who lost in the civil war in China, took refuge on the island, which is today a partially recognized state. Today Taiwan (officially: Republic of China) is a highly developed country with a strong economy.
At the same time, the PRC still claims this territory and does not recognize the sovereignty of the Republic of China. In such a situation, the island state is forced to develop its armed forces, focusing on coastal defense. For a long time, the United States has been the guarantor of Taiwan's security, which has committed itself to ensuring the security of the island. In many ways, this cooperation extends to the supply of weapons and military equipment. For example, the basis of the aircraft fleet of the Air Force of the Republic of China is today F-16 fighters of various modifications. The same goes for the navy. At the same time, there is a developed industry on the island, which is able to serially produce adapted versions of various weapons and work on its own projects. One of the successful examples of organizing our own production is the CM-32 Clouded Leopard armored personnel carrier and a family of wheeled combat vehicles built on its basis.
Irish roots of the CM-32 armored personnel carrier
"Clouded Leopard" is a further development of the project of a small Irish company Timoney Technology Limited and an improved version of the CM-31 armored personnel carrier, which is fully adapted for production in the Republic of China. It is worth noting that an Irish engineering company, small in size and number of employees, is behind the creation of a large number of wheeled armored vehicles around the world.
The main specialization of the company is the development of wheeled armored vehicles, transmissions, and chassis. In addition to Taiwan, the company worked with Singapore, offering the small country its own version of the Terrex wheeled armored personnel carrier, which is produced in Singapore by STK. This machine took part in the Australian tender. Also, the Singapore company STK has created, together with the Turkish company Otokar, a version of the four-axle armored personnel carrier for the Turkish armed forces - AV-82 (Yavuz). The legs of all these projects originate from Ireland.
Today, the Irish company Timoney cooperates with a large number of armored vehicle manufacturers around the world. The customers of this company are such giants as Lockheed Martin (armored personnel carrier Amphibious Combat Vehicle 1.1), Emirates Defense Technology (modular armored vehicle Enigma), Russian KamAZ (family of armored vehicles Typhoon), Serbian company Jygoimport-SDPR (armored personnel carrier Lazar), Taiwan and armored personnel carriers CM-32 Cloud Leopard. These are not all projects of Timoney Technology Limited, 25 percent of which is owned today by the Singapore company STK (Singapore Technologies Kinetics). For example, Irish specialists designed bridges, transfer case and independent suspension for the Russian Typhoon armored car.
At one time, Taiwan lagged behind in the production of its own armored vehicles from its neighbors, first of all, the same China. Over time, the military of the Republic of China was simply forced to address this problem. The country's army needed modern armored vehicles, while not all countries were ready to cooperate directly with Taiwan. The experience of cooperation with the Irish company Timoney Technology Limited resulted in the creation of the CM-31 armored personnel carrier, initially with a 6x6 wheel arrangement. In the future, the project was "finished" already on the island, presenting its own version of the CM-32. ORDC (Ordinance Readiness Development Center) of the Army of the Republic of China was responsible for fine-tuning the machine. Serial production was established at Chung Hsin Electric & Machinery's Taoyuan City.
Implementation of the CM-32 Clouded Leopard project
The new armored personnel carrier of the army of the Republic of China became the first such vehicle in the country with an 8x8 wheel arrangement. The development is quite successful and served as the basis for the creation of a wide variety of combat vehicles, including BMPs with full-fledged artillery weapons in a manned turret: variants with a 20-mm automatic cannon and a 30-mm Bushmaster II automatic cannon are presented. There is also a modification in the form of a wheeled tank or a wheeled combat vehicle with heavy weapons, which received a 105-mm rifled gun. Variants of creating self-propelled mortars - 81-mm and 120-mm, and even a variant of a wheeled self-propelled gun armed with a 155-mm artillery unit are being considered.
Serial production of new armored personnel carriers began in Taiwan in 2007. During this time, local enterprises handed over to the military about 662 wheeled chassis in different versions, most of them in the armored personnel carrier version. The modernization of these combat vehicles and further developments to improve them continue today. In particular, it is known about the work on the Clouded Leopard II armored personnel carrier. In total, the Taiwanese army expects to receive up to 1,400 different combat vehicles on this 8x8 chassis.
The new combat vehicle of the army of the Republic of China received its name in honor of the clouded leopard. The vehicle is officially named CM-32 Yunpao (Clouded Leopard), which should demonstrate that the APC is just as agile and fast. In the army of the Republic of China, the new armored personnel carrier should replace obsolete wheeled armored vehicles, as well as the tracked CM-21, which is a local version of the American M113 armored personnel carrier. The supply of new combat vehicles to the troops should increase the mobility of motorized rifle subunits and increase their firepower. The initial contract for the supply of armored vehicles was placed back in 2006, but there is no rush to build military vehicles on the island, it is expected that all deliveries will be completed in full only by 2023.
Features armored personnel carrier CM-32 Clouded Leopard
Like many modern armored personnel carriers, the CM-32 looks like all models at once. It is easy to guess in it the American Stryker, the Swiss MOWAG Piranha, the Singaporean Terrex, and the Russian Boomerang, which will never reach the stage of mass production, although the Russian wheeled armored vehicle fleet needs a radical update for a long time. The similarity of these combat vehicles is explained by the same requirements of the military and the tasks they solve.
The CM-32 armored personnel carrier has a typical layout for vehicles of its class with a front-mounted control and engine compartment. The power plant is separated from the driver's seat and the landing force by a special protective partition. The place of the mechanical drive is on the left, a diesel engine is installed on the right side of it. The entire middle and aft part of the armored personnel carrier is occupied by the airborne compartment, combined with the fighting compartment. The landing is carried out through the aft ramp, which also has a door. In addition, the troopers can use hatches located in the roof of the hull to exit. Loopholes for firing from the troop compartment are not provided.
The combat weight of an 8x8 armored personnel carrier is approximately 22 tons. At the same time, almost all the variants of the CM-32 combat vehicles presented today carry additional mounted armor. The hull front plates are located at rational angles of inclination, the hull and stern sides are located vertically. The designers provided all-round protection against 7.62 mm armor-piercing bullets; in the frontal projection, the armored personnel carrier can withstand the shelling of 12.7 mm armor-piercing bullets. Most likely, due to the widespread use of hinged armor, the armor rates of the vehicle were improved.
A distinctive feature of all Misty Leopards is the V-shape of the hull bottom. The armored personnel carrier was originally developed with enhanced mine protection. The level of mine protection ensures the survival of the crew and the landing force when an improvised explosive device with a capacity of up to 12 kg in TNT is detonated under any wheel of an armored personnel carrier. The body itself is quite spacious. Standard loading option for armored personnel carriers: two crew members and 8 troops. In the version of the wheeled BMP, the crew consists of three people, the landing is reduced to 6 people.
The length of the armored personnel carrier is 6.35 meters, the height along the roof of the hull is 2.23 meters, and the width is 2.7 meters. Combat weight - 22 tons. The machine is able to overcome ditches and trenches up to two meters wide, climb walls up to 0.7 meters high. Thanks to the powerful enough Caterpillar C12 450 hp diesel engine. with. and high power density (more than 20 hp per ton), the armored personnel carrier has good dynamics. The maximum speed on the highway reaches 110 km / h, the cruising range is 800 km.
The main armament of the CM-32 armored personnel carriers is a combination of a 40-mm automatic grenade launcher and a 7, 62-mm or 12, 7-mm M2 machine gun. The armament is located in a remotely controlled combat module located on the roof of the armored personnel carrier. The composition of the machine-gun armament can change, as well as the variants of the combat modules used. At exhibitions, you can find options exclusively with machine gun armament. In addition, smoke grenade launchers, traditional for military equipment, are installed on all combat vehicles.
