The CTMS-1TB1 project was started in 1941 as private design to produce a light tank with a crew of three. It was armed with a automatic cannon and coaxial M1919 machine gun. That same year, Dutch authorities ordered 194 of these vehicles for service in the Dutch East Indies (later Indonesia) with Dutch East Indies Army ("KNIL") cavalry platoons. However, none of these vehicles had left the United States by the time that Dutch forces surrendered and the Dutch East Indies was officially occupied by Japan (8 March 1942).