The handover followed an exclusive field demonstration for the Associated Press at a secret location in Ukraine, where a weighted stretcher secured to the drone's frame simulated a wounded soldier in body armour.
The aerial medical evacuation drone was developed over the past year by SkyFall. If it proves reliable in combat, it could transform battlefield evacuations, reaching soldiers in places that ground vehicles cannot access and potentially saving those so severely wounded that hours of waiting could cost them their lives.
SkyFall's spokesperson, who asked not to be named because of the security risks facing Ukrainian military technology personnel and spoke wearing a balaclava, said the idea came directly from the front line, from the trenches. AP was not permitted to disclose the testing location.
The project grew out of a military request. Last year, Flint, commander of the 475th Separate Assault Regiment known as Code 9.2, approached SkyFall's founder about developing a safer way to evacuate wounded soldiers from hard-to-reach positions. For troops in the regiment, reaching a front-line position to retrieve the wounded can mean travelling on foot through areas where vehicles are vulnerable to drones.
In some sectors, the kill zone, the area under constant threat from drones and artillery, stretches 10 to 15 kilometres or further. StarGate has a one-way range of 15 kilometres, potentially allowing it to reach critically wounded soldiers trapped deep inside the zone. Some of the more harrowing footage to emerge from this war has shown drones tracking and striking fallen soldiers with nowhere to flee.