Leonardo da Vinci designed a tank-like fighting vehicle intended to protect soldiers inside a turtle-shaped armored structure.
The design appears in Leonardo’s notebooks from around 1487 and consists of a conical, armored body mounted on wheels. It was intended to move using cranks connected to internal gears, while crew members operated weapons from within the protected enclosure.
The vehicle is often called Leonardo’s tank, although it was not a modern tank. It had no engine, turret, or tracked propulsion system. Its proposed armament consisted of light cannons arranged around the outer edge, allowing fire in several directions.
Historians have also noted a mechanical problem in some reconstructions: the gear arrangement shown in the drawing may make the vehicle move backward rather than forward. Whether intentional or caused by a design error, the machine is best understood as a conceptual armored fighting vehicle.