Six propellers whir to life, lifting a drone above a field somewhere in Ukraine. A weighted stretcher secured to its frame simulates a wounded soldier in body armor. Far from the front line, the demonstration offers a glimpse of a far more dangerous mission: flying into a battlefield and carrying wounded troops to safety without an evacuation crew. The Associated Press was granted exclusive access to a field demonstration of the drone. This week, StarGate was handed over to a combat brigade for evaluation under front-line conditions. The aerial medical evacuation drone was developed over the past year by Ukrainian defense technology company SkyFall. If it proves reliable in combat, it could transform battlefield evacuations, reaching soldiers in places where ground vehicles cannot access and potentially saving those so severely wounded that hours of waiting could cost them their lives. "With the StarGate we can give to the wounded soldier a golden chance basically to be evacuated in the matter of minutes," said SkyFall's spokesperson, who asked not to be named because of the security risks facing Ukrainian military technology personnel. He spoke to AP wearing a balaclava. The AP was not permitted to disclose the testing location. In some sectors, the so-called kill zone — the area under constant threat from drones and artillery — stretches 10 to 15 kilometers or farther. StarGate has a one-way range of 15 kilometers, potentially allowing it to reach critically wounded soldiers trapped deep inside the kill zone. SkyFall emerged after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, and has grown into a Ukrainian drone manufacturer. Named after the science-fiction franchise in which portals connect distant worlds, StarGate can carry a payload of up to 150 kilograms, according to the company - enough for a wounded soldier wearing body armor and carrying combat equipment. Its medical evacuation cabin is built around a stretcher. The drone cruises at 65 kph and can reach speeds of up to 105 kph. SkyFall says it can be prepared for flight in about 10 minutes. The drone is operated manually, but has several AI functions that allow it to operate in GPS-denied environments or when signals are spoofed or frequencies are jammed, the spokesperson said. The company estimates each system will cost at least $50,000, depending on configuration, and aims to produce up to 1,000 a month by the end of 2026. SkyFall confirmed the unit is evaluating StarGate but declined to disclose the results.
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Video Summary
AI Generated
Ukrainian defense company Skyfall has developed \"Stargate,\" an aerial medical evacuation drone designed to rescue wounded soldiers from high-risk \"kill zones.\" Capable of carrying 150kg, the drone aims to drastically reduce evacuation times from days to minutes, bypassing minefields and terrain to ensure soldiers receive critical care within the \"golden hour.\"
Six propellers were to life,
lifting a drone above a field somewhere in Ukraine.
A weighted stretcher secured to its frame simulates
a wounded soldier in body armor.
Far from the front line, the demonstration offers
a glimpse of a far more dangerous mission,
flying into a battlefield
and carrying wounded troops to safety without an evacuation crew.
The Associated Press was granted exclusive access
to a field demonstration of the drone.
This week, Stargate was handed over to a combat brigade
for evaluation under frontline conditions.
The aerial medical evacuation drone
was developed over the past year by Ukrainian
defense technology company Skyfall.
If it proves reliable in combat, it could transform
battlefield evacuations,
reaching soldiers in places where ground vehicles cannot access and
potentially saving those so severely wounded
that hours of waiting could cost them their lives.
With the Stargate we can give to the wounded soldier
a golden chance basically to be evacuated
in the matter of minutes, said Skyfall's spokesperson,
who asked not to be named
because of the security risks facing
Ukrainian military technology personnel.
He spoke to AP wearing a balaclava.
The AP was not permitted to disclose the testing location.
In some sectors, the so-called kill zone,
the area under constant threat from drones and artillery,
stretches 10 to 15 kilometers or farther.
Stargate has a one-way range of 15 kilometers,
potentially allowing it to reach critically
wounded soldiers trapped deep inside the kill
zone. Skyfall emerged after Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022,
and has grown into a Ukrainian
drone manufacturer.
Named after the science fiction franchise in which portals connect
distant worlds, Stargate can carry a payload of up to 150 kilograms,
according to the company,
enough for a wounded soldier wearing body armor
and carrying combat equipment.
Its medical evacuation cabin is built around a stretcher.
The drone cruises at 65 km per hour
and can reach speeds of up to 105 km per hour.
Skyfall says it can be prepared for flight in
about 10 minutes. The drone is operated manually,
but has several AI functions that allow it to
operate in GPS-denied environments
or when signals are spoofed or frequencies are jammed,
the spokesperson said.
The company estimates each system will cost at least $50,000,
depending on configuration,
and aims to produce up to 1,000 a month by the end of 2026.
Skyfall confirmed the unit is evaluating Stargate
but declined to disclose the results.
the
front
line.
Right
now the
evacuation
takes
from
several
hours
to
several
days
to three days. With the Stargate we can evacuate person
in the matter of minutes
basically. With the speed
and with the time of deployment it can go extremely
fast. There is such term in medical evacuation
and basically in
frontline medicine evacuation the golden hour.
Basically this is the hour when the
soldier can be saved if evacuated in time.
Right now with the Stargate we can
give to the wounded soldier
a golden chance basically to be evacuated in the
matter
of minutes.
Stargate
can go over
the minefield
in the air, it
can go over the
rivers, it can go over the land, it can go in the high speed,
as I said, up to 105 kilometers per
hour. So basically,
all the threats that are sometimes limiting the UGVs can be countered
by the Stargate. And that's why it's important
to tell that Stargate is an addition to existing
medical evacuation.
The drone's being
operated manually
by the operator.
At the same time,
The drone has several AI functions that allows it
to operate even in the environment of GPS-denied situations
or in the environment of other spoofing, blocking of the frequencies.
In this case, the drone is fully autonomous.
This AI system can work simultaneously in three formats.
It's audio format, it's radar format, and it's visual format.
So basically it constantly tracks and checks the surroundings
and in case of an active threat from the enemy drones,
it can autonomously protect the drone
and the wounded soldier inside of the cabin by either turning
on the radio-electronic warfare or putting out the nets,
basically doing, mostly doing both at the same time.
Stargate
is going through
an active combat
testing right now.
It's already been sent to the military units on the front line
and it's going through the battlefield operation.
