The Tank Museum
Published 31 Jan 2025This might just be one of the greatest missed opportunities in the history of tank development. Project Crazy Horse: a full-sized, crewless, remote-control tank – developed 35 years ago.
Being shot at is as unpleasant as it is dangerous. But in the 1980s, the Ministry of Defence needed to trial the cutting-edge TRIGAT missile system with a mobile target. The MOD approached the Royal Armament Research and Development Establishment (RARDE) with a unique challenge – design us a tank that can operate by remote control.
With a limited budget, the project team selected an old Mark I Chieftain as the test bed for their vehicle. Stripping out any unnecessary components and piecing together the needed parts from a range of tech, Crazy Horse was successfully trialed in 1988.
But despite the innovations of both the team and the technology, the project was shut down due to budget cuts and issues of unreliability. The team was reassigned, and Crazy Horse was sent to The Tank Museum. There is currently no such thing as an unmanned, remote controlled main battle tank. But 35 years ago, we came tantalisingly close.
00:00 | Introduction
00:39 | A Moving Target
03:00 | Less Than A Million Dollars?
04:40 | Previous Attempts
07:47 | Creating Crazy Horse
10:16 | A Stormer!
13:47 | Slow Death of Crazy Horse
18:23 | A Missed Opportunity?In this film Chris Copson and Paul Famojuro explore the extraordinary story of Project Crazy Horse. This unique Chieftain target tank was developed in the 1980s, by an enthusiastic team that used their expertise to create the biggest remote-controlled tank in the world. Sadly, despite several glimmers of a resurrection, Crazy Horse would never see its full potential. Both Crazy Horse and its Stormer control vehicle were saved from scrap, and are now on display at The Tank Museum, where visitors can discover more about this revolutionary design.
Want to learn more about Project Crazy Horse? Here are some of the sources we used to make this film:
TM Archive, E2015.2982 Administrative Documents relating to Project Crazy Horse
TM Archive, E2015.1425 Remote Driving Conversion and 00 EB 33 Full Radio Tests (Crazy Horse)
TM Archive, E2013.3307 RARDE Project ‘Crazy Horse’
TM Archive, E2021.824 Operation Granby
TM Archive, E2016.2124 Feasibility Study on A Control System for An Unmanned Target Tank (U)Support The Tank Museum!
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Online Shop: https://tankmuseumshop.org/
June 17, 2025
The Crewless Tank Experiment | Project Crazy Horse
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