Aerial Drone To Evacuate Wounded Now Being Used By Ukrainians

This could literally be a life-saver on the Ukrainian battlefield where drones have made evacuation of wounded soldiers supremely risky and the notion of the 'golden hour' (the time in which evacuating wounded soldiers increases the likelihood of survival) is but a dream.

This drone is equipped to avoid jamming, can carry up to 300 pounds, can fly in rain or snow and can continue to operate if it loses one of its rotors. JL

Cyril Barabaltchouk reports in United 24:

StarGate is Ukraine's first aerial drone designed to evacuate wounded soldiers from areas too dangerous for conventional vehicles or evacuation teams.  In some sectors, the battlefield “kill zone” under constant drone and artillery threat extends 10 to 15 kilometers or farther. StarGate has a one-way range of 15 kilometers and is designed to reach wounded troops inside those areas. “Covering 10 kilometers in minutes would be a drastic change on the front line.” StarGate can carry up to 150 kilograms (over 300 pounds), enough for a wounded soldier wearing body armor and combat equipment. Its evacuation compartment is built around a medical-grade stretcher. The drone cruises at 65 kilometers per hour and can reach 105 kilometers per hour. Tt can be prepared for flight in 10 minutes.

Ukraine has begun front-line testing of StarGate, its first aerial drone designed to evacuate wounded soldiers from areas too dangerous for conventional vehicles or evacuation teams, the Associated Press (AP) reported on Octobe 16.

Ukraine is increasingly using unmanned ground vehicles to evacuate wounded troops from areas where Russian FPV drones make conventional rescue missions too dangerous. In April, the First Separate Medical Battalion completed six casualty evacuations with ground robots in a single day under constant drone threat. 

AP received exclusive access to a field demonstration of the system before StarGate was handed to a Ukrainian combat brigade for testing under front-line conditions. 

“The idea came directly from the front line, from the trenches,” a SkyFall spokesperson told AP.

The drone was developed over the past year by Ukrainian defense technology company SkyFall after a request from the commander of the 475th Separate Assault Regiment, known as Code 9.2.

In some sectors, the battlefield “kill zone” under constant drone and artillery threat extends 10 to 15 kilometers or farther, AP reported. StarGate has a one-way range of 15 kilometers and is designed to reach wounded troops inside those areas without exposing an evacuation crew.

“Covering 10 kilometers in minutes would be a drastic change on the front line,” KVN, a commander with Code 9.2, told AP. 

StarGate can carry up to 150 kilograms, enough for a wounded soldier wearing body armor and combat equipment. Its evacuation compartment is built around a medical-grade stretcher.

According to AP, the drone cruises at 65 kilometers per hour and can reach 105 kilometers per hour. SkyFall states that it can be prepared for flight in about 10 minutes.

The system uses Starlink and SkyFall’s proprietary L-Link communications system, alongside AI-assisted navigation designed for environments where GPS is unavailable, spoofed, or jammed.

During the demonstration observed by AP, FPV drones simulated attacks on StarGate while electronic jamming was active. The evacuation drone deployed a net against one approaching FPV, knocking it off course. 

SkyFall also states that StarGate can return toward a safe area if communications are completely lost. The drone is equipped with thermal cameras for night operations and is designed to fly in rain and snow.

The company has demonstrated that the aircraft can continue flying after losing one of its arms, although AP noted that SkyFall has not released data showing how reliably it can survive damage under combat conditions.

Each system is expected to cost at least $50,000, depending on its configuration. SkyFall aims to produce up to 1,000 StarGate drones per month by the end of 2026. 

“It’s a completely new method of evacuation,” KVN told AP. “It’s difficult to talk in depth about the pros and cons right now. We need to work with it more.”

Unmanned systems already play an expanding role in Ukrainian casualty evacuation, particularly where ground vehicles face mines, craters, destroyed roads, rivers, and drone attacks. AP reported that ground robots can take two to three hours to reach some positions, while StarGate is designed to cover comparable distances in minutes.

The StarGate tests build on Ukraine’s growing use of unmanned systems for casualty evacuation. In June, the Third Army Corps reported that its ground robots had evacuated more than 600 wounded soldiers during their first year of operations, while completing more than 18,000 missions overall.