diff --git a/tests/common.bash b/tests/common.bash
index 8084f210c1..ba44fd89cd 100644
--- a/tests/common.bash
+++ b/tests/common.bash
@@ -529,29 +529,6 @@ function ensure_yq() {
 	hash -d yq 2> /dev/null || true # yq is preinstalled on GHA Ubuntu 22.04 runners so we clear Bash's PATH cache.
 }
 
-function ensure_helm() {
-	ensure_yq
-	# The get-helm-3 script will take care of downloaading and installing Helm
-	# properly on the system respecting ARCH, OS and other configurations.
-	DESIRED_VERSION=$(get_from_kata_deps ".externals.helm.version")
-	export DESIRED_VERSION
-
-	# Check if helm is available in the system's PATH
-	if ! command -v helm &> /dev/null; then
-		echo "Helm is not installed. Installing Helm..."
-		curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/helm/helm/main/scripts/get-helm-3 | bash
-		# Verify the installation
-		if command -v helm &> /dev/null; then
-			echo "Helm installed successfully."
-		else
-			echo "Failed to install Helm."
-			exit 1
-		fi
-	else
-		echo "Helm is already installed."
-	fi
-}
-
 # dependency: What we want to get the version from the versions.yaml file
 function get_from_kata_deps() {
         versions_file="${repo_root_dir}/versions.yaml"
diff --git a/tests/integration/kubernetes/gha-run.sh b/tests/integration/kubernetes/gha-run.sh
index 688712dbc0..ca0f1a34ea 100755
--- a/tests/integration/kubernetes/gha-run.sh
+++ b/tests/integration/kubernetes/gha-run.sh
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@ source "${kubernetes_dir}/../../gha-run-k8s-common.sh"
 source "${kubernetes_dir}/confidential_kbs.sh"
 # shellcheck disable=2154
 tools_dir="${repo_root_dir}/tools"
-helm_chart_dir="${tools_dir}/packaging/kata-deploy/helm-chart/kata-deploy"
 kata_tarball_dir="${2:-kata-artifacts}"
 
 DOCKER_REGISTRY=${DOCKER_REGISTRY:-quay.io}
@@ -147,7 +146,6 @@ function deploy_coco_kbs() {
 
 function deploy_kata() {
 	platform="${1:-}"
-	ensure_helm
 	ensure_yq
 
 	[ "$platform" = "kcli" ] && \
@@ -159,59 +157,82 @@ function deploy_kata() {
 
 	set_default_cluster_namespace
 
-	local values_yaml
-	values_yaml=$(mktemp /tmp/values_yaml.XXXXXX)
+	sed -i -e "s|quay.io/kata-containers/kata-deploy:latest|${DOCKER_REGISTRY}/${DOCKER_REPO}:${DOCKER_TAG}|g" "${tools_dir}/packaging/kata-deploy/kata-deploy/base/kata-deploy.yaml"
 
-	yq -i ".k8sDistribution = \"${KUBERNETES}\""                     "${values_yaml}"
-	yq -i ".image.reference = \"${DOCKER_REGISTRY}/${DOCKER_REPO}\"" "${values_yaml}"
-	yq -i ".image.tag = \"${DOCKER_TAG}\""                           "${values_yaml}"
-	yq -i ".env.debug = \"true\""                                    "${values_yaml}"
-	yq -i ".env.shims = \"${KATA_HYPERVISOR}\""                      "${values_yaml}"
-	yq -i ".env.defaultShim = \"${KATA_HYPERVISOR}\""                "${values_yaml}"
-	yq -i ".env.createRuntimeClasses = \"true\""                     "${values_yaml}"
-	yq -i ".env.createDefaultRuntimeClass = \"true\""                "${values_yaml}"
-	yq -i ".env.allowedHypervisorAnnotations = \"default_vcpus\""    "${values_yaml}"
-	yq -i ".env.snapshotterHandlerMapping = \"\""                    "${values_yaml}"
-	yq -i ".env.agentHttpsProxy = \"\""                              "${values_yaml}"
-	yq -i ".env.agentNoProxy = \"\""                                 "${values_yaml}"
-	yq -i ".env.pullTypeMapping = \"\""                              "${values_yaml}"
-	yq -i ".env.hostOS = \"\""                                       "${values_yaml}"
+	# Enable debug for Kata Containers
+	yq -i \
+	  '.spec.template.spec.containers[0].env[1].value = "true"' \
+	  "${tools_dir}/packaging/kata-deploy/kata-deploy/base/kata-deploy.yaml"
+	# Create the runtime class only for the shim that's being tested
+	yq -i \
+	  ".spec.template.spec.containers[0].env[2].value = \"${KATA_HYPERVISOR}\"" \
+	  "${tools_dir}/packaging/kata-deploy/kata-deploy/base/kata-deploy.yaml"
+	# Set the tested hypervisor as the default `kata` shim
+	yq -i \
+	  ".spec.template.spec.containers[0].env[3].value = \"${KATA_HYPERVISOR}\"" \
+	  "${tools_dir}/packaging/kata-deploy/kata-deploy/base/kata-deploy.yaml"
+	# Let the `kata-deploy` script take care of the runtime class creation / removal
+	yq -i \
+	  '.spec.template.spec.containers[0].env[4].value = "true"' \
+	  "${tools_dir}/packaging/kata-deploy/kata-deploy/base/kata-deploy.yaml"
+	# Let the `kata-deploy` create the default `kata` runtime class
+	yq -i \
+	  '.spec.template.spec.containers[0].env[5].value = "true"' \
+	  "${tools_dir}/packaging/kata-deploy/kata-deploy/base/kata-deploy.yaml"
+	# Enable 'default_vcpus' hypervisor annotation
+	yq -i \
+	  '.spec.template.spec.containers[0].env[6].value = "default_vcpus"' \
+	  "${tools_dir}/packaging/kata-deploy/kata-deploy/base/kata-deploy.yaml"
 
 	if [ -n "${SNAPSHOTTER}" ]; then
-		yq -i ".env.snapshotterHandlerMapping = \"${KATA_HYPERVISOR}:${SNAPSHOTTER}\"" "${values_yaml}"
+		yq -i \
+		  ".spec.template.spec.containers[0].env[7].value = \"${KATA_HYPERVISOR}:${SNAPSHOTTER}\"" \
+		  "${tools_dir}/packaging/kata-deploy/kata-deploy/base/kata-deploy.yaml"
 	fi
 
 	if [ "${KATA_HOST_OS}" = "cbl-mariner" ]; then
-		yq -i ".env.allowedHypervisorAnnotations = \"initrd kernel default_vcpus\"" "${values_yaml}"
-		yq -i ".env.hostOS = \"${KATA_HOST_OS}\""                                   "${values_yaml}"
+		ALLOWED_HYPERVISOR_ANNOTATIONS="initrd kernel default_vcpus"
+		HOST_OS=${KATA_HOST_OS}
 	fi
 
 	if [ "${KATA_HYPERVISOR}" = "qemu" ]; then
-		yq -i ".env.allowedHypervisorAnnotations = \"image initrd kernel default_vcpus\"" "${values_yaml}"
+		yq -i \
+		  '.spec.template.spec.containers[0].env[6].value = "image initrd kernel default_vcpus"' \
+		  "${tools_dir}/packaging/kata-deploy/kata-deploy/base/kata-deploy.yaml"
 	fi
 
 	if [ "${KATA_HYPERVISOR}" = "qemu-tdx" ]; then
-		yq -i ".env.agentHttpsProxy = \"${HTTPS_PROXY}\"" "${values_yaml}"
-		yq -i ".env.agentNoProxy = \"${NO_PROXY}\""       "${values_yaml}"
+		yq -i \
+		  ".spec.template.spec.containers[0].env[8].value = \"${HTTPS_PROXY}\"" \
+		  "${tools_dir}/packaging/kata-deploy/kata-deploy/base/kata-deploy.yaml"
+
+		yq -i \
+		  ".spec.template.spec.containers[0].env[9].value = \"${NO_PROXY}\"" \
+		  "${tools_dir}/packaging/kata-deploy/kata-deploy/base/kata-deploy.yaml"
 	fi
 
 	# Set the PULL_TYPE_MAPPING
 	if [ "${PULL_TYPE}" != "default" ]; then
-		yq -i ".env.pullTypeMapping = \"${KATA_HYPERVISOR}:${PULL_TYPE}\"" "${values_yaml}"
+		yq -i \
+		  ".spec.template.spec.containers[0].env[10].value = \"${KATA_HYPERVISOR}:${PULL_TYPE}\"" \
+		  "${tools_dir}/packaging/kata-deploy/kata-deploy/base/kata-deploy.yaml"
 	fi
 
-	echo "::group::Final kata-deploy manifests used in the test"
-	cat "${values_yaml}"
-	helm template "${helm_chart_dir}" --values "${values_yaml}" --namespace kube-system
-	[ "$(yq .image.reference ${values_yaml})" = "${DOCKER_REGISTRY}/${DOCKER_REPO}" ] || die "Failed to set image reference"
-	[ "$(yq .image.tag ${values_yaml})" = "${DOCKER_TAG}" ] || die "Failed to set image tag"
+	echo "::group::Final kata-deploy.yaml that is used in the test"
+	cat "${tools_dir}/packaging/kata-deploy/kata-deploy/base/kata-deploy.yaml"
+	grep "${DOCKER_REGISTRY}/${DOCKER_REPO}:${DOCKER_TAG}" "${tools_dir}/packaging/kata-deploy/kata-deploy/base/kata-deploy.yaml" || die "Failed to setup the tests image"
 	echo "::endgroup::"
 
-	# will wait until all Pods, PVCs, Services, and minimum number of Pods
-	# of a Deployment, StatefulSet, or ReplicaSet are in a ready state
-	# before marking the release as successful. It will wait for as long
-	# as --timeout -- Ready >> Running
-	helm install --wait --timeout 10m kata-deploy "${helm_chart_dir}" --values "${values_yaml}" --namespace kube-system
+	kubectl_retry apply -f "${tools_dir}/packaging/kata-deploy/kata-rbac/base/kata-rbac.yaml"
+	case "${KUBERNETES}" in
+		k0s) kubectl_retry apply -k "${tools_dir}/packaging/kata-deploy/kata-deploy/overlays/k0s" ;;
+		k3s) kubectl_retry apply -k "${tools_dir}/packaging/kata-deploy/kata-deploy/overlays/k3s" ;;
+		rke2) kubectl_retry apply -k "${tools_dir}/packaging/kata-deploy/kata-deploy/overlays/rke2" ;;
+		*) kubectl_retry apply -f "${tools_dir}/packaging/kata-deploy/kata-deploy/base/kata-deploy.yaml"
+	esac
+
+	local cmd="kubectl -n kube-system get -l name=kata-deploy pod 2>/dev/null | grep '\<Running\>'"
+	waitForProcess "${KATA_DEPLOY_WAIT_TIMEOUT}" 10 "$cmd"
 
 	# This is needed as the kata-deploy pod will be set to "Ready" when it starts running,
 	# which may cause issues like not having the node properly labeled or the artefacts
diff --git a/versions.yaml b/versions.yaml
index 8ebd70a796..dadd9213fa 100644
--- a/versions.yaml
+++ b/versions.yaml
@@ -218,11 +218,6 @@ externals:
     version: "1.36.1"
     url: "https://busybox.net/downloads"
 
-  helm:
-    description: "Kubernetes package manager"
-    url: "https://get.helm.sh/"
-    version: "v3.15.2"
-
   cni-plugins:
     description: "CNI network plugins"
     url: "https://github.com/containernetworking/plugins"