Ukraine has carried out the first unmanned drone evacuation of an injured soldier in the history of warfare. The infantryman, callsign 'Kostya', was wounded while alone in position on the eastern Kharkiv front. Surrounded by Russian kamikaze drones and heavily mined terrain, he could not be safely reached by a rescue team or ground vehicle, so commanders turned to a heavily modified bomber drone as a last resort.
The Heavy Shot drone, manufactured by Gurzuf Defence and piloted by 'Chornyi' of the 30th Mechanised Brigade, landed beside him. The 80kg soldier from the 92nd Separate Assault Brigade strapped himself to a harness on the drone's underbelly and was lifted into the sky, carried 18km (11 miles) away from the frontline to safety. A fleet of smaller kamikaze drones and net-armed quadcopters flanked the craft on all sides to protect him.
As he touched down, the squad commander told him over the radio: 'Welcome back to earth.' The brigade's leader, callsign Napalm, called it a historic event and said serious, systematic work now begins to make such missions routine. Kostya was taken to the evacuation point and is receiving treatment and rehabilitation.
The Heavy Shot, dubbed the Ayudag, holds Ukraine's record for weight limit, lifting up to 130kg, and can carry 90kg up to 25km on missions. Gurzuf Defence supplied the modified hexacopter free of charge. Roman Tsymbaliuk, a company representative, said the operation was extremely dangerous because the Russians actively hunt such aircraft.
Source: Hacker News · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing