Here, on 23rd April, the Light Tank T3 was unveiled for comparative testing with the pilot model Combat Car T5 (a tank in all but name). Finished in March 1936, the vehicle was shipped to Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG) in Maryland in April that year. In an effort to further reduce weight, some aluminum components were also used inside. The commander also had to operate the sole armament. The two crew were simply the driver on the front left of the hull, and the commander on the front right. The most obvious of these changes was the removal of the turret, followed by a significant overall reduction in size and the switch to a crew of just two instead of four on the Light Tank T2. With an attempt to be less than half the fully laden weight of the already light Light Tank T2 (weighing just 7.5 US tons to 9.7 US tons/6.8 to 8.8 tonnes depending on the variant), severe design compromises would have to be made. Thus, the suspension which was to form the basis of numerous American designs for the next several years had already been selected when the Light Tank T3 came along. RIA had already dropped the British Vickers 6-ton-style suspension in favor of a double-wheel volute spring bogie from the Combat Car T5 for the Light Tank T2 in 1934. The US Secretary of State for War had decreed in the Spring of 1933 that 7.5 US tons (6.8 tonnes) was the maximum weight allowable for a light tank, so the goal was to keep the weight as low as possible. The US Light Tank T3 started life in 1936 as an idea by Rock Island Arsenal (RIA) to produce a tank lighter than the Light Tank T2, which was due to go into mass production that fiscal year.
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