SĒLIJA, Latvia — Roughly two hours from Latvia’s capital city, Riga, a Ukrainian-made unmanned ground vehicle stomps over small trees, swiftly clearing an uneven and wild grazing land. Dubbed ‘Simba’ and taking part in a NATO exercise for the first time, the robotic platform belongs to a Ukrainian manufacturer that has kept a low profile under the name UGV Laboratory.
Simba was handpicked for testing unmanned systems, along with a handful of other robots, under Task Force X for the Eastern Flank Deterrence Initiative, aimed at accelerating the procurement and integration of new land-focused technologies. The UGV was among hundreds of uncrewed platforms used in the Crystal Arrow 2026 military exercise, organized here from May 5-15.
During the exercise, it primarily served in a logistics role, delivering supplies and mission-critical cargo — similar to what company representatives say it does back home in the fight against Russian troops, where it equips military units.
“Simba UGV has undergone extensive battlefield use in logistics and support roles across different operational environments. A single platform has accumulated a total distance travelled of more than 1,600 kilometres (about 994 miles) across all assigned missions,” a company representative told Breaking Defense on the condition of anonymity due to security concerns.
According to the manufacturer, the platform’s operational range can hit 70 kilometres, and it can carry payloads weighing over 300 kilograms (661 pounds). According to NATO, one unit operating Simba crossed 384 kilometres overall before it required its first scheduled maintenance, constituting approximately seven to 10 missions.
However, the Ukrainian representative noted that during the exercise, operations were conducted during the day, whereas in Ukraine, many are carried out at night to take advantage of darkness. Nightfall, they said, provides the vehicles with relatively more protection, at least in an attempt to avoid detection and strikes from enemy first-person-view (FPV) drones.
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In videos purportedly shot in Ukraine and shown to Breaking Defense, the Simba UGV is seen completing night missions even after losing a wheel and being struck by an FPV.
Sam Bendett, an advisor on Russian military technology at the Center for Naval Analyses, said that these small-but-mighty one-way attack drones are among the key challenges Western UGVs currently face, not to mention living soldiers.
“Protection against FPVs is a problem; other obstacles are communication issues if Starlink isn’t available, since radio, mesh, and fibre-optic links are not always reliable in complex battlefield areas; nascent autonomy that is not yet ready for a messy Ukraine-style combat; lessening dependence on imports for parts (both the case for Ukraine and Russia),” Bendett told Breaking Defense.
The expert added that there is also a need to diversify the roles that combat robots can undertake, including counter-drone and heavier fires.
A representative from UGV Laboratory acknowledged that Starlink, which Simba and several other UGVs at the exercise used as one of their communication systems, was tricky to rely on in Latvia’s densely forested woods due to signal issues. (The American company did not respond to a previous request for comment.)
Simba’s makers said it has already entered serial production in Ukraine, where the country is currently prioritizing industry contracts to produce 25,000 UGVs in the first half of 2026, according to Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov.
The organization known as UGV Laboratory has previously maintained a very low profile, but is now choosing to come out of the shadows, kind of, in hopes of boosting partnerships and cooperation with other allies.
“Until now, the company has focused mainly on development and operational deployment rather than public communication — international demonstrations provide an opportunity for professional exchange and discussions around practical battlefield-driven solutions,” the representative said.
