Taiwan's Domestically Built 'Cheetah' 105mm Armored Vehicle Makes Live-Fire Media Debut in Tainan Hours Before Xi's Washington Arrival

Taiwan's Army held a live-fire media demonstration of its domestically developed 'Cheetah' 8-wheeled 105mm mobile gun system at a training area in Tainan on September 23, 2026, hours before Xi Jinping landed in Washington for his state visit. Maj. Gen. Chen Chien-chung said the production vehicle's height has been reduced roughly 30cm from the prototype shown at the 2023 Taipei Aerospace & Defense Technology Exhibition, with a tighter 9-meter turning radius via three-wheel steering; it engaged moving and stationary targets at ranges up to 1.2km and fired on 90-degree angled targets on slopes. The Cheetah, which reaches 100kph with a 500km range and carries anti-drone countermeasures against quadcopters as a stated priority, is slated for mass production of 178 units beginning 2027 under a roughly $1.7B program. AP's wire coverage framed the demonstration's timing as a display of self-reliant defense capability as Taipei watched the Trump-Xi summit for any sign of change to the paused $14 billion US arms package.