Leonardo da Vinci’s armored vehicle was a covered, conical fighting machine powered by people turning cranks. He designed it around 1487–1489, probably as a proposal for the military patron Ludovico Sforza.
The vehicle had a broad, sloping shell intended to protect its crew from weapons. Cannons were arranged around the perimeter so the machine could fire in several directions. Its movement depended on gears connected to cranks inside the vehicle.
The design is sometimes called Leonardo’s tank, but it was not a modern tank and was never built for Renaissance warfare. A frequently discussed problem is that the gear arrangement in the surviving drawing appears to make the machine move backward rather than forward. Some historians think this may have been deliberate, while others regard it as an error or an incomplete design.
The proposal demonstrates Leonardo’s interest in combining armor, mobility, artillery, and mechanical power. Its historical significance comes from the concept, not from battlefield use.