Overview
- The 475th Separate Assault Regiment said Monday that it used SkyFall’s StarGate drone in two evacuation missions to lift two severely wounded soldiers from a grey zone about 5 km from the Russian border.
- The rescued men were 25-year-old Yevhen (call sign Izium) and 24-year-old Artem (call sign Kolobok) and ground removal was impossible because of soft terrain, water obstacles and active threats from Russian FPV drones.
- SkyFall describes StarGate as a six-rotor heavy-lift drone with a 30 km operational range, a 150 kg payload capacity, a sealed medical capsule with a stretcher, and AI navigation that lets it operate when satellite navigation is jammed.
- Unit commanders said the week-long operations required close coordination with SkyFall, escort and suppression by heavy Vampire attack drones, and skillful piloting to complete roughly 30 km round trips under electronic warfare pressure.
- Commanders now plan to form a specialized aerial medical-evacuation unit and further test procurement and doctrine, while the Oct. 19 Gurzuf Defence case provides an immediate precedent and analysts caution current UAS medevac methods still have operational limits.