Ukraine's army is turning Humvees into remote-controlled vehicles connected by Starlink

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.