KHARKIV REGION, Ukraine, Nov 12 (Reuters) - The first time Ukrainian drone pilot "KVN" guided a giant unmanned hexacopter to rescue a wounded comrade, preparations for the operation took seven days.
Just two weeks later, a similar mission came together in only 12 hours, highlighting how quickly a potentially transformative new tactic is taking hold on a rapidly evolving battlefield.
"Now, I just need to make four or five calls, so that all the drones in the air and our partner battalions ... help us complete the operation," said KVN, 33, using his military call sign.
His 475th Separate Assault Regiment helped make military history last month by using the new hexacopter to carry out daring rescues of wounded fighters trapped in the "kill zone" - an area stretching for miles on either side of the front line where aerial drones hunt anything that moves.
Now the regiment wants to make the new capability part of its daily operations in the fifth year of Russia's war on Ukraine, one element of a broader Ukrainian effort to use technology to better protect soldiers' lives.
"The future for such evacuations is very promising," said Eduard Khoroshun, head of a major military hospital in the northeastern region of Kharkiv, in a statement after the first evacuations.
Quicker evacuations of wounded soldiers could lead to fewer complications and disabilities, he said.
FLYING OVER THE 'KILL ZONE'
With any movement inside the kill zone potentially fatal as drones prowl overhead, wounded soldiers are often stranded for days, weeks or even months.
While Kyiv's forces have embraced unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) for evacuations to reduce the need to expose rescuers to danger, they are often slow and can make easy targets.
In August, a company commander from the 475th was forced to personally rescue two wounded soldiers by car when a UGV carrying them was struck by Russian drones.
Aerial evacuation drones, despite their large size, are faster and more evasive than UGVs, said "Cherry", 28, head of the regiment's medical service.
"The less the enemy sees us, the better," she said, speaking inside a command center in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region.
The first known drone airlift was carried out by Ukraine's 92nd Brigade late last month, followed shortly by the first two rescues by the 475th regiment.
During one of them, the Ukrainian-made drone used by the regiment, called StarGate, covered a total of 60 km (37 miles)- half of it carrying a human, Kyiv's defence ministry said.
Cherry said her regiment is forming platoons dedicated to drone airlifts, as well as working on improving coordination between pilots and medics.
'PEAK OF RESPONSIBILITY'
KVN, who hunted Russian troops as a strike-drone pilot for his first two years of service, has completed just four missions.
But he said he already feels a higher sense of duty when he airlifts his wounded comrades, calling it "the peak of responsibility in the army". His most recent mission lasted an hour and a half.
StarGate manufacturer SkyFall is meanwhile scaling up production of its AI-assisted drone, which can hover and land autonomously even amid attempts to jam it through electronic warfare.
It is Ukraine's first purpose-built evacuation drone.
The company expects to produce around 1,000 units per month by the end of 2026, a spokesperson told Reuters, adding that its drone is in high demand among various other units and brigades.
The spokesperson, who declined to be identified for security reasons, said drone airlifts were not "a panacea", and that each evacuation carries its own risk.
Each mission also requires extensive coordination involving companion drones, electronic warfare, as well as other assets.
"Of course it's up to the soldiers themselves," he said. "But they understand that it could be the only chance to save someone."
(Additional reporting and writing by Dan Peleschuk; Editing by Ros Russell)
