SKD Technology Takes Part in 33,615-Drone Guinness World Records Production
The Crostars drone system operated by SKD was among the technologies involved in a 33,615-drone production in China, setting a new Guinness World Records title for the most remote-controlled multirotors airborne simultaneously.
On 20 May 2026, 33,615 drones took to the sky over Dujiangyan, Sichuan, establishing a new world record for the largest number of remotely controlled drones airborne at the same time. The same production also achieved a second Guinness World Records title, with 33,605 drones forming the largest aerial image created by multirotors.
For SKD, the project has a particular technical significance. Crostars, the drone technology platform operated within SKD's fleet, was one of the systems contributing to the record-scale operation, alongside other major drone-show technologies including High Great and EFY.
Rather than relying on one conventional centralised system, the production brought together large drone fleets operating through distributed control. Guinness World Records confirms that all 33,615 aircraft were coordinated as a single swarm using distributed control architecture, an important step in how ultra-large-scale drone productions can be approached.
Beyond the number
At this scale, the challenge is not simply putting more aircraft into the air.
Thousands of individual flight paths must operate simultaneously while maintaining positioning accuracy, communication, timing and separation. When several large-scale systems are brought into the same production environment, the planning extends further: flight areas, system architecture and operational procedures all have to work as part of one coordinated performance.
The result in Dujiangyan was a full creative production rather than a record attempt built around a single static formation. The show included imagery inspired by the 28 Lunar Mansions of traditional Chinese astronomy, a giant panda, a floating island and large-scale aerial typography. Guinness World Records
A further Guinness World Records title was achieved the following day for the largest LED mesh screen flown, officially measured at 148.322 square metres. Guinness World Records
A new benchmark for large-scale drone operations
Drone-show technology has developed rapidly from formations involving hundreds of aircraft to productions involving several thousand. Crossing the 30,000-drone threshold demonstrates another level of infrastructure altogether.
It also points towards a different direction for the industry: different technologies and operators being capable of contributing to one much larger aerial production.
For SKD, which has worked with drone-show technology since 2017, participation of the Crostars platform is especially relevant. The same technology behind part of our international fleet has now operated within a production involving more than 33,000 aircraft.
Our own productions range from private and brand events to government celebrations and large public shows, but the underlying requirement remains the same at every scale: reliable technology, disciplined operations and a system designed to perform consistently in a live environment.
The Dujiangyan record is an impressive demonstration of how far that technology can now go.
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