Taiwan- Replacement of Humvees (8 Apr 2003)

The Taiwan Army is scheduled to replace around 7000 Humvees (high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle), which has been in service for a decade with a new model in a few years time.

There are plans in the upcoming months to purchase the next generation medium weight transport vehicle, which would be a domestically built model. The specifications for the new medium-weight transport vehicle are not confirmed, however several local car manufacturers have expressed interest in bidding for the deal worth estimated billions of NT dollars.

The army shall decide the specifications of the new medium-weight transport vehicle, while the combined logistics command is taking care of other details such as preparations for the open bidding on the deal.

The initial plan was to purchase replacement vehicles from overseas, but the plan had to be changed due to a resolution passed by the legislature two years back. This resulted in a delay in replacing the Humvee as the army had to spend an entire year studying the practicability of buying from local car manufacturers.

Although the Humvee will be replaced by local car manufacturers, the design and technology will be provided from foreign countries. One prominent car manufacturer has plans to introduce technology from Japan as the basis for its model to compete for the deal.

One of the reasons the army had reservations on using a local car manufacturer was that local car manufacturer maybe able to assemble the vehicle but they will not have an established sound logistics system that is required. The Humvee has been in use since 1992, however, its working logistics system Is also not satisfactory. One of the main problems is the lack of Chinese-language operation manuals for the vehicles and Chinese language instructions for the use of the equipment. There is also a failure to maintain on a constant basis a computer-controlled system for the detection of mechanical problems.

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