The demise of Tetrarch was prevented by a decision made by the War Office in mid-1941, as it was considering the equipment to be used by Britain's fledgling airborne forces, formed in June 1940 under the orders of the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. When selecting the equipment for the airborne forces, officials at the War Office concluded that gliders would be an integral component; gliders would transport troops and heavy equipment, which, by 1941, was to include artillery and some form of tank. Plans to transport a tank went through a number of revisions, but, by May 1941, the feasibility of a tank to be carried for in a glider was accepted, although the aircraft would have to be specifically designed for the task. In a conference held on 16 January 1941, it was decided that the General Aircraft Hamilcar, currently under development, would be used to transport a single Tetrarch tank or two Universal Carriers. The Tetrarch was chosen because it was an obsolete design, and was therefore available to be used by the airborne forces.