Frontline Medevac: Drone Flies 30 km to Pull Wounded Soldiers From Grey Zone
Ukraine's 475th Regiment used AI navigation to bypass electronic warfare and extract two injured troops from near the Russian border.
By Ahmed Peterson ·
Two Ukrainian soldiers lay trapped in no man's land, five kilometers from the Russian border, with severe limb injuries and no way to reach a hospital on foot. Ground routes were blocked by water obstacles and enemy FPV drones. The only option was the air.
The 475th Separate Assault Regiment, known as CODE 9.2, executed the rescue using the StarGate drone. The aircraft is built by SkyFall specifically for casualty evacuation. It carried a 150 kg payload, including a medical capsule with a stretcher for the injured men.
The unit named the two rescued soldiers Yevhen, alias Izium, and Artem, alias Kolobok. Both are in their mid-twenties. The regiment spent one week preparing the missions. They coordinated with SkyFall engineers and secured fire support from other military units to suppress Russian positions with Vampire attack drones.
Russian forces deployed electronic warfare systems in the operational area. These systems attempted to block satellite navigation signals. The StarGate drone relied on an AI-based navigation system to fly without GPS. This allowed it to complete the flight despite the interference.
One mission required the drone to travel almost 30 kilometers to reach the first soldier. It then flew the same distance back with the man on board. The unit described the terrain as difficult and the threat from enemy drones as constant. The aerial route was the only viable path to safety.
Oleksandr "Flint" Nastenko, commander of the 475th Regiment, said the experience will help form a dedicated medical aviation unit. That unit will specialize in pulling wounded soldiers off the battlefield by air. The StarGate has a top speed of 105 km/h and a range of up to 30 kilometers.
SkyFall previously handed the drone to the military for frontline testing. On October 19, a separate Ukrainian company, Gurzuf Defence, also reported a first-of-its-kind aerial evacuation of a wounded soldier. The use of these drones marks a shift in how the military extracts casualties from high-threat zones.
Source: Ukrainska Pravda
