SkyFall’s StarGate drone handed to Ukrainian brigade for front‑line medical evacuations, AP says

SkyFall has handed its new StarGate aerial medical‑evacuation drone to a Ukrainian combat brigade for front‑line evaluation, the Sydney Morning Herald reported based on an AP field demonstration.

The company developed StarGate over the past year and allowed AP exclusive access to a demonstration held at a secret location in Ukraine, where engineers showed the drone lifting a weighted stretcher to simulate a wounded soldier wearing body armour.

SkyFall says StarGate can carry up to 150 kilograms and has a one‑way range of 15 kilometres, figures the company provided during the demonstration. The developers told AP that StarGate can be prepared for flight in about 10 minutes, and that if communication is lost entirely the drone can plot a route back to a designated safe area.

A SkyFall spokesperson appeared on camera wearing a balaclava and asked not to be named because of security concerns for Ukrainian military technology personnel.

AP reporting cited commanders who initiated the project: the Sydney Morning Herald excerpt notes that last year “Flint”, commander of the 475th Separate Assault Regiment known as Code 9.2, approached SkyFall’s founder about building a way to evacuate wounded soldiers from positions under constant threat.

A commander identified as “KVN” with Code 9.2 told AP that ground robots can take two to three hours to reach some positions and that covering 10 kilometres in minutes would be a substantial change for front‑line evacuations.

In the demonstration, SkyFall used a weighted stretcher to represent a soldier with body armour and combat equipment; the company says StarGate’s 150‑kilogram payload is sufficient for that load.

The Sydney Morning Herald report quotes SkyFall describing the so‑called kill zone as sometimes stretching 10 to 15 kilometres and presents the makers’ view that a rapid aerial retrieval capability could shorten evacuation time from high‑threat areas.

The article provides technical and operational claims directly from SkyFall and from commanders who requested the system; it does not include independent verification of performance in active combat conditions or casualty‑recovery missions.

The field demonstration and the handover to a brigade were presented as steps toward front‑line evaluation but the report does not describe results of operational evacua­tions under fire.

Headlines in other outlets likewise flagged AP’s exclusive look at StarGate, but the Sydney Morning Herald’s text is the sole available detailed account of the development, technical specifications, the demonstration and the handover to a combat brigade.