- Ukrainian firm Drone Fight Group has delivered three Humvees fitted with its Kaban remote-control kit
- The Kaban kit bolts on without modifying the vehicle’s structure, allowing crews to switch between remote and manual modes depending on their needs
- The primary control link here is Starlink, with analog video and radio communication as a fallback, in addition to an automatic stop if connections are not found
Ukraine has begun converting American-supplied Humvees into remotely operated ground vehicles using a bolt-on kit that leaves the original vehicle intact and routes its control signals through Starlink.
The system is called Kaban, Ukrainian for “boar.” Developer Drone Fight Group says it has delivered three converted High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles to Ukrainian formations: the 3rd Army Corps, the 429th Separate Unmanned Systems Regiment “Achilles,” and the 49th Brigade.
With over 5,000 Humvees in service in Ukraine thanks to US military aid and grants, the Kaban retrofit could have far-reaching impacts in a war zone where automation is increasingly being used on both sides.
What does Kaban offer the Ukrainian military?
Rather than designing a purpose-built robot and waiting for it to reach production, Kaban turns existing hardware units into an unmanned platform on demand. This is crucial in a war where economics dictate much of the conflict, and both sides often have to repurpose aging military hardware to meet their needs.
Kaban installs without modifying the vehicle’s structure, and operators can switch between remote and manual driving. This is crucial, as a converted Humvee is still essentially a manually driven vehicle with an add-on, and a crew can physically drive it when the mission requires a person behind the wheel.
SpaceX’s Starlink functions as the primary control link for Kaban deployments. The system also supports analog video transmission and radio control as backup channels, letting it hedge its bets in an environment where any single link can be blocked or targeted, rendering devices that rely on it useless.
From the control station, an operator gets vehicle movement plus headlights, infrared illumination, searchlights, two-way audio, and telemetry from the vehicle’s onboard computer. Navigation runs on a digital map where the operator plots routes and drops markers, with a predicted trajectory overlay to help maneuver the Humvee.
If the on-device GPS is jammed or spoofed, which is a routine occurrence near the line of contact, the operator can correct the vehicle’s position manually instead of losing it to attackers. If the link fails entirely, however, Kaban brings the vehicle to an automatic stop.
The move to a satellite link is a paradigm shift on a battlefield that has recently relied heavily on short-range radio or spooled fiber, both of which require the controller to be nearby. The satellite link essentially lets operators deploy and control military hardware from a much greater distance, improving their safety.
Optional equipment the Kaban can come with for retrofitted Humvees includes thermal cameras, searchlights, net launchers to catch incoming drones, and platforms for launching Ukraine’s own drones, making it a highly versatile option on the battlefield.
The news comes as the world sees a massive ramp-up in Ukrainian ground robotics. Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense recorded more than 100,000 UGV logistics and evacuation missions in 2026 till August 20, logged in the DELTA combat management system.
Most of those, however, are purpose-built platforms that concentrate on one particular aspect of the military’s needs. Kaban bets that the faster route to fleet-scale automation runs through the vehicles a military already owns, a proposition that could have an impact far beyond the Russia-Ukraine war, as militaries worldwide continue to observe the conflict.
