Leonardo da Vinci’s conical armored military vehicle is commonly called an armored tank.
Leonardo designed the fighting vehicle around 1485 for military use. Its sloping, conical shell was intended to deflect enemy fire, while a ring of light cannons around the platform would allow the crew to fire in several directions. The vehicle was planned to move using cranks connected to wheels.
The design resembles a tank in its combination of armor, mobility, and onboard weapons, but it was not a modern tank. It had no engine, its crew would have needed to operate the mechanism manually, and the surviving drawing contains a famous mechanical problem: the gearing as shown would make the wheels turn in opposing directions. Some historians think this may have been deliberate or caused by a drawing error.
Leonardo’s vehicle was never built for battlefield service. Its historical importance lies in combining ideas that later became central to armored warfare: protected crew space, wheels, and concentrated firepower.