Ukraine’s military used a heavy hexacopter drone to rescue a wounded soldier from the frontline, marking the first known use of such technology for casualty evacuation. The operation took place on an undisclosed date and location, where the presence of Russian drones and landmines made ground robot deployment impractical, according to The Kyiv Independent.
The drone evacuation, carried out by the 92nd separate assault brigade, involved a Heavy Shot AYUDAG 6 model provided by Gurzuf Defence. The wounded soldier, from the 30th separate mechanized brigade, had spent nearly 500 days at a frontline position under Russian fire, according to Gurzuf Defence.
The evacuation flight lasted 1 hour and 14 minutes, covering a distance of nearly 39 miles (62 kilometers). The hexacopter, which can reportedly carry up to 200 pounds (90 kilograms), is designed for rapid extraction and greater survivability for wounded soldiers.
"This is a historic event, the next stage of evacuating the wounded, which we will all come to," said Napalm, a programmer of the 92nd brigade’s unmanned ground systems company, in a statement. He added that systematic work now begins to ensure such missions are carried out constantly.
The drone evacuation comes just a week after SkyFall, another Ukrainian manufacturer, unveiled its StarGate hexacopter drone designed for casualty evacuation. The StarGate relies on Starlink satellite communication and has a proprietary backup system, which may be crucial given recent Starlink service throttling in Ukraine.
Pavlo Feldblium, cofounder of Gurzuf Defence, warned that drone evacuations are risky for wounded soldiers and should only be used as a last resort. Ukraine’s battlefield experiences may offer lessons for the Pentagon, which has tested uncrewed aircraft for casualty evacuation without deploying them in combat.
Source: arstechnica
