As early as mid-1943 Adolf Müller, formerly of the Junkers Jumo aircraft powerplant division of the parent Junkers aviation firm in Dessau, and then Heinkel-Hirth's (Heinkel Strahltriebwerke) jet engine division, proposed the use of a gas turbine for armored vehicle engines. A gas turbine would be much lighter than the 600 hp-plus class, gasoline-fueled reciprocating piston engines being used in the next-generation tanks, to that time primarily sourced from the Maybach firm for the Wehrmacht Heer's existing armored fighting vehicle designs, that it would considerably improve their power-to-weight ratio and thereby improve cross-country performance, and potentially outright speed. At that time, there were considerable challenges with the use of gas turbine engines in this role, however.
In 1943, Adolf Müller, who had previously worked on aircraft powerplants for Junkers and jet engines for Heinkel-Hirth, proposed using a gas turbine engine in armored vehicles. This was an alternative to the heavy gasoline-powered engines used in tanks at that time, which were primarily supplied by Maybach.