What military vehicle did Leonardo da Vinci design with rotating sickle blades on its sides?

Leonardo da Vinci designed a scythed chariot with rotating sickle blades on its sides.

The proposed vehicle combined a wheeled chariot with long blades that could sweep around the sides as the wheels turned. The mechanism was intended to threaten enemy infantry by extending the chariot’s reach beyond its body. Leonardo’s drawing presents it as a military machine rather than a transport vehicle.

Scythed chariots themselves were known in ancient warfare, especially in Persian and Hellenistic contexts. Leonardo’s Renaissance design revisited that older idea and attempted to connect the blades mechanically to the vehicle’s motion.

The design was dangerous to its operators as well as to opponents. Leonardo’s military notebooks contain many proposals that were never built, so the drawing should not be treated as evidence of a successful battlefield deployment.