Patria drives armored vehicle in Finland from Tokyo desk

Finnish defense manufacturer Patria remotely operated an AMV armored vehicle located in Finland from a control desk in Tokyo, a distance of more than 7,800 kilometers (4,847 miles), the company said this week.

The demonstration took place August 25-26, hosted by the Embassy of Finland in Japan. The Patria AMV was positioned at the Parola military testing area in Finland while an operator in Tokyo controlled the vehicle in real time, using drive-by-wire vehicle technology connected over secure 5G networks.

“The demonstrations were a great success, drawing a large number of attendees from the Japan Ministry of Defence and defence-related companies,” said Janne Räkköläinen, Patria’s Vice President, Market Area World. “This event reflects the strong interest in Patria’s remote driving capabilities in Japan and internationally, as well as the confidence placed in our local partner, the Japan Steel Works.”

The demonstration relied on several outside technology partners. Patria’s own situational awareness system, Patria DOME, provided real-time monitoring of the vehicle and its surroundings, supplemented with satellite data from ICEYE. Nokia, SAVOX and Basemark contributed additional communications and visual awareness technology, while Telia provided the secure data connectivity linking Tokyo to Finland.

Patria has worked on remote and unmanned vehicle capabilities for the AMV platform for several years. The company demonstrated beyond-visual-line-of-sight remote control of an AMV 8×8 using commercial 5G and 4G networks in 2020, in a project conducted with the University of Tampere. In April 2025, Finnish telecom provider Telia separately demonstrated remote operation of a Patria AMV XP over a distance of nearly 100 kilometers (62 miles) during military exercises in Lapland, using a dedicated 5G network slice.

Patria has sold roughly 1,600 AMV vehicles to defense forces in multiple countries, including Finland, Poland, Sweden, Slovenia, Croatia, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates and Japan. Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force received its first Patria AMV XP in September 2025 under the country’s Wheeled Armored Personnel Carrier program, with vehicles assembled locally at Japan Steel Works’ Muroran plant.

Patria said the same remote-operation concept demonstrated in Tokyo could support future applications including unmanned logistics, vehicle convoying and autonomous waypoint navigation.