Alarmed by the rapid build-up of the Red Army, the French Army, on 24 December 1931, conceived a preliminary plan for the mechanisation of the Cavalry. This foresaw the development of several types of automitrailleuses — the official term for cavalry tanks because chars ("tanks") were by law part of the infantry arm — among which an Automitrailleuse de Combat (AMC), a lightly armoured (weighing no more than nine tons) but swift (30 km/h cruise speed) and strongly armed (47 mm gun) combat tank, capable of fighting enemy armour. The plan was affirmed by the French Supreme Command on 23 January 1932, and approved by the ministry of defence on 9 December.
