Kyiv, Oct. 19 (DPnet).— The Ukrainian military has released footage of what it says is the world's first drone
airlift of a wounded soldier from the front line.
The 92nd Assault Brigade said a ground rescue mission was not possible as the wounded serviceman was surrounded by landmines and there was high Russian drone activity in the area, meaning he couldn’t be pulled out of danger by traditional means.
It says a "heavy" hexacopter, piloted by a remote operator, was able to maintain stability during the "very difficult" operation, navigating the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) toward a patch of land, and the wounded service member attaching himself to what appears to be a large, six-rotor drone. The injured soldier is undergoing medical treatment but doesn’t have life-threatening injuries, the 92nd Brigade said.
Press sources verify has found confirmed the identity of the army personnel involved in the video, and found no signs of AI generation of manipulation.
Both Russia and Ukraine have heavily invested in drone technology. The drone race playing out in Ukraine has been watched closely by the rest of the world, with both countries wrestling to upgrade their designs quicker than the other.
While aerial drones and unmanned boats have attracted much of the attention, much less is known on how Kyiv has used its growing fleet of unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) to evacuate people from particularly dangerous areas without risking the lives of others.
Furthermore, just weeks earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian soldiers had retaken Russian-held territory using only unmanned devices for the first time, forcing several Russian troops to offer up their surrender to robots.