Ukraine’s StarGate Drone Rescues Show a New Last-Resort Way to Evacuate Wounded Soldiers

Business Insider reports that Ukrainian forces used SkyFall’s StarGate uncrewed aircraft to medically evacuate two wounded soldiers in back-to-back rescue missions in October. One soldier, identified by the call sign Izyum, had suffered a devastating foot injury, lost significant blood, and was trapped near mines, cables, Russian drones, and advancing Russian troops. The drone landed roughly 10 meters from his position with an enclosed stretcher underneath, allowing comrades to help him aboard before it lifted him out.

The key takeaway: Ukraine is testing aerial drone casualty evacuation as a last-resort option when medical teams, ground robots, or crewed aircraft cannot safely reach wounded troops.

StarGate is described as a heavy hexacopter developed by Ukrainian company SkyFall specifically for casualty evacuation. The article says casualty evacuation by aerial drone is a new concept being pioneered in Ukraine, with this month’s missions among the first of their kind in combat. On front lines crowded with surveillance drones, attack drones, mines, and electronic warfare, even casualty retrieval can become a high-risk operation.

Ground robots are increasingly used, but terrain such as ponds, small rivers, and tree lines can block them. That is where large lift drones may become a narrow but important tool: not a routine replacement for medics, but a way to bridge the gap when every other route is closed.

The StarGate pilot, identified by the call sign KVN, serves in Ukraine’s 475th Separate Assault Regiment, known as CODE 9.2. For one mission, he had to fly 20 miles out and back through areas threatened by Russian drones and electronic warfare, while Ukrainian forces assembled more than a dozen drones to protect StarGate, distract Russian forces, and strike enemy positions near the evacuation point.

The first evacuation took 30 minutes, and because StarGate could not cover the full 40-mile round trip on one charge, ground teams swapped batteries midway on each leg. In Izyum’s rescue, KVN said landing near a minefield was one of the biggest challenges and that he had to fly “like a ninja” to avoid threats.

The report notes that some Ukrainian officials see large rescue hexacopters as potential easy targets for Russia and say they should be used only in extreme circumstances. KVN and Izyum, however, argued that aerial drone casualty evacuations should be expanded as standard practice; CODE 9.2 plans dedicated units, and SkyFall is aiming to build a department focused on evacuations.

StarGate drones reportedly cost roughly $50,000 each, can carry up to 330 pounds, and can fly over 60 miles per hour. SkyFall says the aircraft includes survivability features such as AI-enabled navigation and communication redundancies, and that it aims to make 1,000 drones a month by the end of 2026.