Figure a troop leader has to be paid (3)
I believe the answer is:
vat
'figure' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see a link between them that I don't see?
'a troop leader has to be paid' is the wordplay.
'leader' indicates taking the first letters.
'has' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'to be paid' becomes 'va' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
The first letter of 'troop' is 't'.
't' after 'va' is 'VAT'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for vat that I've seen before include "Barrel - tax" , "Fermentation vessel" , "Large tank for liquids, or kind of tax" , "Large tub; tax" , "A tax on a large container?" .)