Ukraine's Drone Evacuation Flew 62 km in 74 Minutes; the Hexacopter Is Rated for 25 km

Ukraine's 92nd Separate Assault Brigade said on Monday it had carried a wounded soldier off the front line under a heavy-lift hexacopter, which it called the world's first such evacuation. The flight lasted 1 hour, 14 minutes and 36 seconds and covered 62 kilometers, the Kyiv Independent reported, citing the military and the maker.

The maker is Gurzuf Defense, and the Kyiv Independent names the aircraft as an Ayudag-6. NBC News describes a six-rotor drone originally designed as a bomber and says it could not independently verify the "first" claim.

The war is also the setting for a satellite story The Terminal covered, Cosmos 2612's two-week orbit match with ICEYE-X36.

What the flight covered

The soldier belonged to the 30th Separate Mechanized Brigade and had held his position for nearly 500 days, supplied by drone with food, water, ammunition and medicine, the Kyiv Independent reported. After he was severely injured, ground evacuation was impossible because of Russian drone activity and mined terrain.

The crew first delivered equipment with carabiners, then sent the drone with a winch. The soldier, guided remotely by comrades, clipped himself to the system, and the drone took him to a safer position where other soldiers took him to a hospital. A pilot with the callsign Chornyi flew it, and airspace monitoring and electronic-warfare protection ran throughout. The 30th Brigade said his life is no longer in danger. The date and location were not disclosed.

The 62 km and 25 km figures do not match

The Kyiv Independent, citing Ukrainska Pravda, lists the Ayudag-6's range at up to 25 km, with a working altitude of 150 to 300 meters, a weight of about 98 kg and a payload of 70 to 90 kg. DroneLife adds a demonstrated payload of 130 kg and says range depends on load and configuration, with no figure given.

A 62 km flight against a 25 km rating can have innocent explanations: a modified airframe, a different battery, or a round trip that includes the outbound delivery leg. None of the three outlets says which. The average speed works out to about 50 km/h over the logged time, by The Terminal's arithmetic. This aircraft had a human pilot, so unlike the autonomy questions in robot training data, the open variable is range, not software.

1. Flight reported Oct. 1962 km
2. Ayudag-6 range, Ukrainska Pravda25 km
3. SkyFall StarGate range15 km

Source: Kyiv Independent (flight, Ayudag-6 range) and DroneLife citing AP (StarGate range), accessed 2026-10-19

A rival system is still in testing

DroneLife, citing an Associated Press report from Oct. 15, describes a separate stretcher drone, SkyFall's StarGate, with a 150 kg payload, 105 km/h top speed and 15 km range. Front-line testing began in October and effectiveness is still being evaluated.

System	Payload	Range	Status
Gurzuf Ayudag-6 (modified)	70 to 90 kg typical, 130 kg shown	Up to 25 km per Ukrainska Pravda	One reported rescue
SkyFall StarGate	Up to 150 kg	Up to 15 km	Front-line testing since October

What the brigade and the maker say comes next

Napalm, a 92nd Brigade programmer, called it a "historic event" and said the next step is "serious, systematic work" to make such missions regular. Pavlo Feldblium, co-founder of Gurzuf Defense, took the opposite line: "Air rescue is a last resort when there is no other way to save a person," he said, and each mission must be planned individually.

DroneLife adds that one rescue does not show routine evacuation is possible; a person aboard needs secure attachment, stable flight, reliable links and procedures for equipment failure. The number to watch is a second flight with a published distance, load and date, since this one has the first two without the third.