Taiwan's army has 275 new M60A3 tank engines, but worn gearboxes are holding the tanks back

Taiwan's army has now taken delivery of 275 of the 460 new diesel engines it is buying from the United States for its M60A3 tanks, but some of the re-engined tanks are struggling because their ageing gearboxes cannot keep up with the extra power, the Liberty Times reported on Thursday 22 October.

The defence ministry set aside NT$7.245 billion for the engine purchase, which is being delivered in batches. When the money first appeared in the 2023 defence budget, the plan was to finish refitting the fleet by 2028, and a scholar cited by SETN at the time said the extra horsepower would strengthen the ability of the army's combined-arms battalions to fight off a landing.

According to the Liberty Times, the programme has so far moved smoothly. The first three batches brought 145 engines, and more than 100 tanks at bases on Taiwan's main island and its outlying islands have already been refitted and returned to training. A fourth batch of 60 engines has also been shipped, and a fifth batch of 70 reached Taiwan this month, where it is waiting at port for customs clearance and military acceptance checks.

The trouble began once the refitted tanks were driven out of their camps. People familiar with the matter told the paper that front-line units saw some tanks shift gears abnormally and respond slowly when power was demanded. The military at first suspected that the more powerful engines had shaken nearby components loose, but technicians from the American manufacturer travelled to Taiwan, inspected and tested the vehicles one by one, and found that the new engines were not at fault.

Instead the problem lay with the CD-850 transmission that passes power from the engine to the tracks. The report said the gearboxes have been in service for a very long time, that original spare parts have become hard to obtain, and that maintainers have at times fitted substitute parts not made by the original supplier. Old oil lines inside the units were also not fully cleaned and became badly clogged, so the worn transmissions could not cope with the output of the new engines.

The issue is not entirely new. Up Media reported on 2 October that the M60A3 tanks were still breaking down frequently after the costly engine renewal, that it had traced the faults to the old CD-850 transmissions and to maintenance with non-original parts, and that the army had decided to replace the gearboxes.

Because the American maker stopped producing the CD-850 long ago, the army is now weighing how to replace or extend the life of the transmissions. The Liberty Times said the options under study include buying units from a third country that still holds a licence for the technology, or asking an American company to search the international market for unused stock that meets the specification. The report gave no cost or timetable for either route and did not cite a public statement from the defence ministry.

The M60A3 is still a working part of Taiwan's armoured force. A photo released by the army's 10th Army Corps and published with the report shows M60A3s moving to tactical positions for the Fifth Theatre of Operations during the Han Kuang 42 exercise, and the paper described the gearbox problem as a key bottleneck for the force's combat power.