Teletank

TT-26 and related

Radio-controlled light tanks (built on T-18, T-26, T-38, BT-5 and BT-7 hulls) steered from a nearby control tank. Experimental and never widely used.

Price: —Not published
Height: —Not published
Weight: —Not published
Payload: —Not published
Speed: —Not published
Battery: —Not published

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Why it matters

Among the earliest radio-controlled ground combat vehicles fielded by any army.

Real-world use

Teletank battalions were used in the Winter War and at the start of the Eastern Front campaign.

Timeline

First shown: 1930
Released: 1939

Teletank development in the 1930s: TT-18 trials in 1933 and TT-26 production in 1935–1936 (decade marker; first public showing unknown)

Maker

Soviet Red Army (state factories)Government lab

Public attention

A historic robot: no longer sold or in use, so it is not ranked against current machines.

3,340 views of its Wikipedia article in the last 90 days (Teletank)
No recent press stories listed yet

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What’s inside

The parts the company has talked about publicly.

Movement: Tracks
How it runs: Remote-controlled. It was an unmanned tank guided remotely by radio.
Actuators & motors: Light tank hulls (T-18, T-26, T-38, BT-5 and BT-7) adapted for radio control; driven manually when not in combat.
Hands: None (armed vehicle). Public sources list machine guns, flamethrowers, smoke canisters and in some versions a large demolition charge.
Sensors & vision: None reported beyond the operator's view from the accompanying control tank.
Compute: Radio command receiver recognising roughly 16 to 24 discrete commands on two frequencies; no computer.
Other details: Steered by radio from a TU control tank about 500 to 1,500 m away; the pair formed a 'telemechanical group'.

From the maker

Teletank (TT-26 and related) is the only machine from Soviet Red Army (state factories) in the atlas.

Made, sold and where

Unit counts are usually company figures; analysts often disagree.

Price: Not published
How to get one: No official buying page found
Built: Several series built in the 1930s and early 1940s; totals not given in the sources used
Sold or delivered: not sold (state military programme)
Where it is sold or used: Soviet Union
Customers and pilots: Soviet Red Army; at least two teletank battalions existed at the start of the Eastern Front campaign

Sources

Figures come from press coverage. Every link below backs something on this page.

Central Patriot Park Tank Museum TT-26 presentation after restoration RAND Corporation Russia's Asymmetric Response to 21st Century Strategic Competition: Robotization of the Armed Forces

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