Ukraine tests heavy drone to evacuate wounded soldier from frontline

Ukraine has shown that a heavy drone can evacuate a wounded soldier from a frontline position where Russian drones and landmines made a ground rescue impractical. The operation puts a long-discussed use for uncrewed aircraft into practice and may offer lessons to militaries facing battlefields where conventional evacuation is too dangerous.

The soldier, from Ukraine’s 30th Separate Mechanised Brigade, was carried beneath a six-rotor drone using a harness and winch. The flight took 1 hour 14 minutes and covered nearly 62 kilometres; the aircraft can reportedly carry up to 90 kilograms. Its manufacturer said such evacuations are risky and should be a last resort. A separate Ukrainian stretcher-carrying drone has also begun frontline testing, while the US military has explored casualty-evacuation aircraft for decades without putting them into operation.