A seriously injured Ukrainian soldier has been evacuated by drone StarGate who had to go through some 32 kilometers to his position and a similar distance back with him on board. According to the 475th Ukrainian Independent Assault Regimentknown as CODE 9.2was one of the two evacuations carried out with this platform during the past week.
Those rescued were Yevhen25 years old and with the callsign ‘Izyum’and Artem24 years old and known as ‘Kolobok’. Both belonged to units deployed in adjacent sectors and had suffered serious injuries to their extremities while occupying positions in a gray zone, about five kilometers from the Russian border, according to The War Zone. The information does not specify which of the two had to travel the more than 30 kilometers in the drone.
In both situations, reaching them by land was unfeasible. Terrain obstacles, including water passages, and the threat of Russian FPV drones, with first-person vision, prevented vehicle access. Izyum, who had lost part of a foot and a lot of blood, explained from the hospital that leaving there would have been practically impossible without the device..
According to CODE 9.2, during one of the missions Russian electronic warfare systems attempted to jam satellite navigation signals. StarGate completed the flight using its artificial intelligence-based onboard navigation system. The regiment has not detailed the technologies used to maintain the route.
The operations were supported by SkyFallthe Ukrainian company that develops and manufactures StarGate, and demanded coordination between several units. Heavy attack drones also intervened vampire to keep enemy positions under fire.
StarGate is specifically designed to evacuate wounded when land means cannot reach them or doing so entails too high risks. Its features include a load capacity of up to 150 kilograms and approximate maximum speed of 105km/h. The injured man travels restrained in a module based on a covered medical stretcher.
This is not the first aerial drone rescue reported by Ukraine. The 92nd Assault Brigade previously reported the evacuation of a seriously injured soldier on October 4 using a high-load hexacopter manufactured by Gurzuf Defense. In that case, the soldier was traveling suspended more precariously under the apparatus.
The rescued one was Kostiantyn Vlasenkowho spent a 491-day ordeal in a frontline position. After losing his left foot due to necrosis, He had his right amputated because the injury made it difficult for him to crawl to supplies that were being dropped by drones and he feared infection.according to his testimony. The presence of mines and intense Russian drone activity meant that aerial extraction was considered the only suitable option.
The Gurzuf hexacopter has the capacity to transport about 91 kilograms at a distance of up to 24 kilometers. Its use was a more improvised solution than that of StarGate, with drawbacks such as the exposure of the injured person to the elements, possible rocking during flight and the difficulty of safely raising and lowering a seriously injured person.
The StarGate covered stretcher allows restrain the patient in a more standardized way and protect them from weather conditionsbut remains vulnerable to the risks of operating in contested airspace and the injured person may need help getting on board.
CODE 9.2 wants to take advantage of these missions to train operators and create a specific air medical evacuation unit with the aim of converting these rescues in a regular capacity of the Ukrainian Army.