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According to Taiwan media reports on August 2, the Clouded Leopard eight-wheeled armored vehicle independently manufactured by the Taiwan military was reported to have cracks in its bullet-resistant steel plate. In response, Taiwan soldiers were worried that the vehicle might become an iron coffin on the battlefield, and the local media even angrily criticized the incident as "playing with one's life."

The Clouded Leopard eight-wheeled armored vehicle is one of the main military equipment that the Taiwan military boasts of being independently produced. The Taiwan defense department has announced its anti-ballistic coefficient, claiming that the entire vehicle must meet NATO defense standards. However, since it was put into production, the vehicle has continued to face quality doubts.

Taiwanese media reported that cracks appeared on the steel plates of Taiwan’s armored vehicles. (Photo source: Taiwan’s “China Times News”)

It is understood that the armored vehicle had cracks in the steel plate when it was produced in small batches in 2006, but the Taiwan defense department did not admit it. It was not until June 2008 that Lin Yufang, then a representative of the Kuomintang, revealed during a questioning session in the Taiwan Legislative Yuan that four of the 14 armored vehicles produced had serious cracks in the steel plate and chassis.

After 16 years, the Taiwan military's armored vehicles have once again been hit by steel cracks. Taiwan media reported that after receiving a report from a whistleblower, the office of KMT legislator Wang Hongwei inquired with the Taiwan defense department and confirmed that 50 armored vehicles had tiny cracks at the welding points of the ramps or landing plates, 27 of which were manufactured within two years. Wang Hongwei questioned why new tanks still under warranty also had cracks? Was it because the quality of the steel plates was too poor, which caused fatigue at the stress concentration points? She called on the Taiwan defense department to conduct a thorough review.

Faced with the continuous emergence of military equipment quality problems, many Taiwanese media published articles angrily denouncing that such problems were simply "playing with life", and Taiwanese soldiers were even more worried, saying that if there was a war, this armored vehicle might become an iron coffin on the battlefield. (Editor/Shao Qingfeng)

[Editor: Liu Dandan]