Ukrainian military personnel evacuated a wounded soldier from the 30th Mechanised Brigade from the combat zone using a Heavy Shot «Ayudag 6» heavy hexacopter. The operation was reported on 19 October by the manufacturer Gurzuf Defence, the Kharkiv Military Hospital and members of the mission; they did not specify the exact date of the evacuation.
Briefly about the main points
- The wounded soldier was evacuated using an «Ayudag 6» heavy drone.
- According to those involved in the operation, evacuation by land was not possible.
- The hospital reported that the soldier had undergone several operations.
- The claim that the operation is the world’s first remains the manufacturer’s assertion.
Several units were deployed to assist with the evacuation
According to reports from those involved in the operation and the Kharkiv hospital, the ground evacuation of the wounded man failed or was impossible due to the combat situation. Both hospital staff and military personnel mentioned the heavy minefields and the threat posed by Russian drones in this section of the front line.
The 30th Separate Mechanised Brigade, the 92nd Separate Assault Brigade, the 10th Army Corps and Gurzuf Defence were involved in the rescue operation. The commander of the 14th Separate Mechanised Brigade also reported that his unit had assisted in this operation.
The drone has been modified to carry a person
The manufacturer reported that the hexacopter had been adapted to transport the wounded soldier: special equipment featuring carabiners and a winch was used. According to an operator from the 30th Mechanised Brigade, the soldier was provided with a video guide on how to secure himself to the frame, whilst the pilot monitored his movements via an on-board camera.
A hospital in Kharkiv has reported that the evacuee To Konstantin He is 49 years old and has had both legs amputated. Before his airlift, water, food and medicines were delivered to him by drones. Following his evacuation, the soldier was stabilised at a hospital in Kharkiv and underwent several operations; he will now undergo rehabilitation and be fitted with prosthetic limbs.
There is no independent confirmation of this world record
Gurzuf Defence described the mission as the world’s first evacuation of a wounded soldier from the battlefield using a drone. Meanwhile, the commander of the 10th Army Corps Artem Bogomolov He noted that he could confirm that this was the first operation of its kind in the Ukrainian armed forces, but declined to comment on whether there had been similar cases in other countries.
The company also reported that the mission lasted 1 hour, 14 minutes and 36 seconds, and the route covered 62 kilometres. Separately, a spokesperson for the manufacturer mentioned a distance of over 15 kilometres, but did not specify how these figures had been calculated.
On 16 October, Ukrmedia reported on the launch of a Ukrainian drone StarGate from SkyFall for evacuation operations. The system’s stated payload capacity is up to 150 kg; the unit has been handed over to a combat unit for frontline trials.
