Heavy Shot Ayudag-6 — heavy evacuation drone (Gurzuf Defence)
Air evacuation of a casualty where UGVs and vehicles can no longer get through
The Heavy Shot Ayudag-6, a modular heavy-lift logistics drone with a cargo winch from Ukrainian manufacturer Gurzuf Defence, normally used as a bomber drone, was adapted with the 92nd Assault Brigade's unmanned ground systems company to carry a person. On 4 October 2026 it extracted a badly wounded infantryman of the 30th Mechanized Brigade from the grey zone near Kupiansk, because Russian drones and mines made evacuation over land impossible — according to Ukrainska Pravda and Reuters the first known air evacuation of a casualty. The developer calls it a last resort, not a routine.
Learn more in the Drone Academy →Key data
- Basis
- Heavy Shot Ayudag-6: heavy bomber/logistics drone with cargo winch from Gurzuf Defence, provided free of charge
- Modification
- Converted over about six months together with the manufacturer so the drone could carry a person stably without tipping or swinging; the casualty clipped himself to the winch cable (~70 m) with a climbing harness (Petzl Pitagor)
- Payload / range
- Up to 130 kg (Ukrainska Pravda) or ~90 kg over up to 25 km (Reuters) — the sources differ
- First use
- 4 Oct 2026, left bank of the Oskil near Kupiansk; soldier Kostiantyn 'Magura' Vlasenko (30th Mechanized Brigade) after 491 days in the grey zone. Route ~16 km (UP) or ~15 km (Reuters) with a battery swap on the way, then another 8 km by Peacemaker UGV. Controlled via Starlink; no jamming detected (UP)
- Flight protection
- Vampire bomber drones as decoys in neighbouring sectors, an Autel quadcopter overwatching, a Lucky Strike interceptor drone on standby, counter-battery fire from 10th Army Corps and EW support from 3rd Army Corps; ~15 personnel, two months of planning
Relevance
- Why it matters
- Shows how dangerous the front-line 'kill zone' has become: even casualty evacuation is moving into the air
- Russian reaction
- Milblogger Dva Mayora admits a Russian lag in heavy drones and mentions a more advanced SkyFall variant, 'StarGate', with a full evacuation capsule, plus EW and a net launcher against FPVs (claim, not confirmed)
- Successor: StarGate (Oct 2026)
- Ukraine's 475th Separate Assault Regiment CODE 9.2 is preparing SkyFall's StarGate for casualty evacuation: a purpose-built heavy multicopter with an enclosed evacuation capsule, with ~150 kg payload according to The War Zone. In late October 2026 the regiment reported two real evacuations within one week from the grey zone ~5 km from the Russian border; one flight went almost 30 km out and the same distance back with the casualty aboard while Russian EW jammed satellite navigation — the drone kept flying on AI navigation without GNSS. SkyFall cites up to 150 kg payload, 105 km/h top speed and 30 km range, with a medical capsule and stretcher. Militarnyi calls these the second and third known cases worldwide, after the Heavy Shot — source: Ukrainska Pravda, Militarnyi (26 Oct 2026), RU Mil Tracker e-20261022-s03 and e-20261027-03; claims by the regiment and manufacturer, not independently confirmed
- Source
- Euromaidan Press / Defence Blog / The War Zone (19 Oct 2026), Ukrainska Pravda and Reuters via Meduza (23 Oct 2026), RU Mil Tracker e-20261019-03, e-20261021-s08, e-20261022-s03, e-20261024-02 and e-20261027-03; claims by the military personnel involved and the developer, not independently confirmed
- See also
- The FPV Kamikaze and Commercial quadcopter (COTS) cards
News archive 5
Analysed reports from the RU Mil Tracker about this system, newest first. Archive since 2026-07-17.
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Ukraine's CODE 9.2 regiment flies two wounded soldiers out of the grey zone with SkyFall's StarGate drone, one leg nearly 30 km each way under GPS jamming
Ukraine's 475th Separate Assault Regiment (CODE 9.2) says it evacuated two wounded soldiers by air within a single week using the StarGate casualty-evacuation drone built by the Ukrainian company SkyFall. The casualties, Yevhen (call sign Izium, 25) and Artem (call sign Kolobok, 24), had severe limb injuries and were in the grey zone about 5 km from the Rus…
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Ukraine carries out first known aerial casualty evacuation by heavy-lift drone: Heavy Shot Ayudag-6 extracts wounded soldier after 491 days in the grey zone near Kupiansk
On 4 October 2026 Ukrainian forces evacuated a wounded infantryman from the grey zone on the Kupiansk front by heavy drone. Ukrainska Pravda and Reuters (republished by Meduza) both call it the first known operation of its kind. The soldier is Kostiantyn "Magura" Vlasenko of the 2nd Mechanised Battalion, 30th Separate Mechanised Brigade. He had held a posit…
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«CODE 9.2 показав StarGate — новий повітряний дрон для евакуації поранених» (ArmyInform: 'CODE 9.2 shows StarGate, a new aerial drone for evacuating the wounded')
Ukraine's 475th Separate Assault Regiment, known as CODE 9.2, is preparing the StarGate heavy drone for casualty evacuation, according to ArmyInform. The regiment published video of its troops readying the heavy multicopter for launch. StarGate was developed by the Ukrainian defence-technology company SkyFall. According to the report, it is meant for places…
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«Тяжелые дроны – то, в чем нам нужно наверстывать упущенное» (Dva Mayora: 'Heavy drones — where we need to catch up')
The milblogger channel Dva Mayora (Two Majors) comments on Ukrainian footage of what it calls the first-ever battlefield casualty evacuation by a heavy hexacopter, the Gurzuf Defence from the Ukrainian company SkyFall. According to the post, Gurzuf Defence is the simpler of two evacuation models: the casualty clips himself to the drone with a safety line an…
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Ukrainian brigade claims first frontline evacuation of a wounded soldier by heavy hexacopter drone
The unmanned ground systems company of Ukraine's 92nd Separate Assault Brigade says it has flown a wounded soldier off the front line with a heavy hexacopter drone, calling it the world's first aerial evacuation of a casualty from the battlefield. The casualty, an infantryman of the 30th Separate Mechanised Brigade, was wounded while holding his position. A…