AI Drone Flies 30km Through Kill Zone to Save Two Soldiers
The 475th Separate Assault Regiment used the StarGate drone to extract troops from a grey zone where ground routes were blocked by water and enemy drones.
By Leila Saeed ·
Two wounded Ukrainian soldiers were pulled from a combat zone by an AI-guided drone after ground routes were blocked by water and enemy aircraft. The 475th Separate Assault Regiment, also known as CODE 9.2, used the StarGate drone to evacuate the fighters from the grey zone, a stretch of territory roughly 5 km from the Russian border.
The unit said both men, identified only by their callsigns Izium and Kolobok, suffered severe limb injuries. The difficult terrain and the threat from Russian FPV drones made a ground rescue impossible, the regiment stated. Aerial evacuation was the only option available to save their lives.
The military spent a week preparing the missions in coordination with SkyFall, the manufacturer of the StarGate drone. Operations required fire support and cooperation with other units of the Ukrainian defence forces. Heavy Vampire attack drones were deployed to suppress Russian positions during the extractions.
In one mission, the StarGate flew nearly 30 km to reach the soldier and the same distance back with the man on board. Russian forces actively used electronic warfare systems in the area to disrupt satellite navigation signals. The drone’s AI-based navigation system allowed it to complete the flight successfully despite the loss of GPS.
Oleksandr Flint Nastenko, commander of the 475th Separate Assault Regiment, said the experience will help the unit form a dedicated medical aviation unit. That new group will specialise in extracting wounded soldiers from the battlefield by air.
The StarGate has a maximum range of 30 km and can carry a payload of up to 150 kg. For medical missions, it is fitted with a capsule containing a stretcher. The remotely operated drone has a top speed of 105 km/h and uses AI systems to function without GPS.
On 19 October, a similar operation was reported where a Gurzuf Defence drone evacuated a wounded soldier for the first time. The SkyFall drone had been handed over to the military for frontline testing after its development for casualty evacuation.
Source: Ukrainska Pravda
