The Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense's (MND's) Materiel Production Center (MPC) is set to deliver the first tranche of 32 infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) variants of the 8x8 Yunpao (Cloud Leopard) armoured vehicle family to the Republic of China Army (RoCA) at the end of 2019, officials told Jane’s during the 2019 Taipei Aerospace & Defense Technology Exhibition (TADTE) held from 15-17 August.
Up to 284 CM-34 IFVs (IFVs), as the type is officially known, will be acquired by the MND.
The vehicle is derived from the common 6.35 m long, 2.7 m wide, and 2.2 m high welded steel hull also used by the in-service CM-32 and CM-33 Cloud Leopard armoured personnel carriers (APCs), although the CM-34 has a combat weight of 24 tonnes as opposed to the 22 tonnes of the earlier variants.
The CM-34 infantry fighting vehicle is the latest model of the Cloud Leopard armoured vehicle currently in production, although the Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense plans to further expand the platform family to include self-propelled mortar and 105 mm gun variants. (IHS Markit/Kelvin Wong)
The vehicle is equipped with a powerpack comprising a Caterpillar C9 diesel engine coupled to an Allison HD4560P automatic transmission, although engine output has been increased from 410hp to 450hp to compensate for the additional weight.
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