Samya Kullab
October 16, 2026 — 11:57am
A secret location in Ukraine: Six propellers whir to life, lifting a drone above a field. A weighted stretcher secured to its frame simulates a wounded soldier in body armour.
Far from the front line, the demonstration offers a glimpse of a far more dangerous mission: flying into a battlefield where enemy drones and artillery can leave wounded troops stranded for weeks or months, then carrying them to safety without an evacuation crew.
Some of the more harrowing footage to emerge from this war has been drone tracking and striking fallen soldiers with nowhere to flee.
AP 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 defence technology company SkyFall. If it proves reliable in combat, it could transform battlefield evacuations, reaching soldiers in places that ground vehicles cannot access and potentially saving those so severely wounded that hours of waiting could cost them their lives.
“The idea came directly from the front line, from the trenches,” said SkyFall’s spokesperson, who asked not to be named because of the security risks facing Ukrainian military technology personne
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