Ukraine Tests Heavy StarGate CASEVAC Drone to Evacuate Wounded From Frontline Kill Zones
Ukraine’s SkyFall has built the StarGate hexa‑copter, a drone that can carry 150 kg over 15 km at up to 105 km/h to evacuate wounded soldiers from mine‑saturated front lines.
On Ukraine’s mine‑covered front lines, a new drone aims to pull wounded soldiers out of places that are too dangerous for ambulances or armored vehicles.
The Ukrainian defense company SkyFall has developed StarGate, a heavy CASEVAC (casualty evacuation) drone designed to extract injured troops from frontline kill zones. The six‑rotor hexa‑copter can carry loads of up to 150 kilograms, fly 15 kilometers one way and reach speeds of 105 km/h.
StarGate is built to operate over areas under fire and across minefields, lifting casualties vertically from exposed positions to safer locations for treatment. The company says frontline testing has already begun.
The drone relies on Starlink satellite terminals and SkyFall’s own L‑Link system for communications and control. An integrated AI system provides backup navigation if GPS is unavailable or if communications are lost. In such cases, the drone can orient itself and return to safety autonomously.
These features are intended to give Ukrainian units a way to evacuate the wounded without sending medics through zones watched by artillery and reconnaissance drones. In parts of the front where conventional vehicles risk immediate detection or mines, a dedicated evacuation drone offers another option.
StarGate sits within a broader Ukrainian effort to use drones not just for reconnaissance and strikes but also for support roles at the front. Its dependence on Starlink again underlines how much of Ukraine’s battlefield resilience now rests on commercial space‑based services.
Signals to watch include feedback from units using StarGate, whether Russia targets or adapts to these CASEVAC drones, and whether Ukraine can secure funding and production capacity to field them at scale.
Sources
- OSINT