With the National Defense Law and revised Organization Law of the Ministry of National Defense went into effect on 1 March 2002, the Armaments Bureau was formulated according to the two laws.[1] In 2015 Lieutenant General Ho An-ch replaced the retiring Lieutenant General Chin Shou-feng as director of the Armaments Bureau.[2]
In 2020 the Armaments Bureau, along with a number of public and private partners, began developing a powered exoskeleton for military and disaster relief tasks.[3] The program was started because foreign military exoskeleton programs had not yet reached the export stage and as such Taiwan’s requests to procure military exoskeletons had been rebuffed. The program was allocated NT$250 million (US$8.3 million) for the 2020 fiscal year with serial production scheduled to begin in 2023.[4]
In 2023 the Armaments Bureau and in particular the 205th Arsenal were the subject of reform efforts by the Control Yuan. Multiple officers were impeached for problems related to corruption and inefficiency. The impeached officers had received favors and gifts from private contractors in return for preferential treatment procurement treatment. The Control Yuan ordered the implementation of improvements to internal oversight and evaluation procedures.[5]
Organizational structure
Program Evaluation Division
Technology and Industry Division
Acquisition Management Division
Procurement Management Division
Construction and Real Estate Division
Management Information Office
General Administration Office
Comptroller Office
Arsenals
Headquarters
The bureau headquarters is accessible within walking distance South West from Dazhi Station of the Taipei Metro.
209th Arsenal
Responsible for development of CM-32 armoured vehicle.[6] Located in the Nantou County town of Jiji.[7]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Armaments Bureau, Ministry of National Defense (Republic of China).
^"中華民國國防部-全球資訊網-首頁".
^"New head of MND Armaments Bureau appointed". www.taiwannews.com.tw. Taiwan News. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
^Sharwood, Simon. "Taiwan to develop military exoskeleton because it's not like these things are open-sourced or one-size-fits-all". www.theregister.co.uk. The Register. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
^Yu, Matt; Yeh, Joseph. "Taiwan developing military-use powered suit for production in 2023". focustaiwan.tw. Focus Taiwan. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
^Yao-ju, Yang; Pan, Jason. "Control Yuan takes Armaments Bureau to task". taipeitimes.com. Taipei Times. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
^Pan, Jason (12 June 2015). "About 60 detained in military probe". www.taipeitimes.com. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
^Strong, Matthew. "Corruption suspected in Clouded Leopard deal". www.taiwannews.com.tw. Taiwan News. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
^Matt Schrader, Ned Collins-Chase, David An. "Taiwan's Indigenous Defense Industry: Centralized Control of Abundant Suppliers" (PDF). globaltaiwan.org. Global Taiwan Institute. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 June 2022. Retrieved 27 August 2019.