Video: Two seriously wounded soldiers were evacuated using the new StarGate drone

Soldiers from the 475th Separate Assault Regiment CODE 9.2 successfully evacuated critically wounded fighters from neighboring units from the battlefield twice this week using the StarGate evacuation drone. The rescued defenders were located in the gray zone approximately five kilometers from the border with Russia, where ground evacuation was impossible due to difficult terrain, water obstacles, and the threat posed by enemy FPV drones.

A team from SkyFall—the developer and manufacturer of the StarGate drone—was involved in planning and executing the special operations, along with Vampire heavy-strike UAVs for fire support and suppressing enemy positions. 

During one of the missions, the drone traveled nearly 30 kilometers to the wounded soldier’s position and the same distance back with the soldier on board. Thanks to an AI-based navigation system, the flight was successful even amid active enemy electronic warfare and the absence of GPS. Commander of the 475th Special Operations Regiment CODE 9.2, Oleksandr Nastenko (“Flint”), noted: “Going forward, we plan to make changes to our regiment’s organizational structure and create a separate medical aviation unit within the medical company. It will specialize specifically in the evacuation of the wounded from the battlefield by air.”

Source: 475th Separate Assault Regiment CODE 9.2.

Earlier in the Kharkiv region, the Ukrainian Defense Forces conducted their first-ever air evacuation of a wounded soldier directly from the battlefield since the war began. In the Kupiansk sector, a large drone was used to evacuate 49-year-old soldier Kostyantyn, who had lost both legs, from his position. Gurzuf Defence, the drone manufacturer, reported that the soldier had spent nearly a year and a half at a dangerous combat position. Attempting to reach him by conventional means posed a deadly risk to the rescue team.