A 4,000-drone light show filled the sky above Sennan, Osaka, during the 10th-anniversary SBI Fireworks Festival on August 22. TryHard Holdings says the completed performance set a new Japanese record for the scale of a drone formation show, more than doubling the 2,200-aircraft mark recognized in 2025.
Key takeaway: the verified story is the scale of the completed civilian entertainment operation and the collaboration behind it. TryHard’s announcement does not disclose the positioning, communications or networking architecture, so claims about a specific GNSS configuration or real-time mesh system would be speculative.
What happened at the SBI Fireworks Festival
TryHard Holdings announced on August 24 that 4,000 synchronized drones successfully performed at SENNAN LONG PARK in Sennan, Osaka. The display accompanied fireworks, live music and other festival programming at the August 22 event.
The aerial sequence followed a “biological evolution” theme. According to TryHard, the formations depicted a visual journey from the deep sea, across land and toward the moon. Pre-event material also described a roughly 400-meter-wide performance area and moving large-scale images designed to appear as if they traveled across the night sky.
The original Japanese event announcement described the 4,000-aircraft plan as the country’s largest by simultaneous drone count as of July 23, citing research by the Japan Record Certification Association. TryHard’s post-event release says the formation completed the performance and established the new scale record. A separate public certification entry for the new mark was not available when this article was prepared, so the record is attributed to the company.
TryHard produced the event; EHang Egret supplied formation technology
The project divided responsibilities among several companies. TryHard Japan planned, produced and operated the broader festival. Guangzhou EHang Egret Media Technology, a subsidiary of EHang Holdings, provided the drone-formation technology and aerial-performance expertise. SKYTEK supported local planning, regulatory coordination and on-site implementation.
TryHard said the show was the first implementation of a collaboration among SBI MUSIC CIRCUS, EHang Egret and SKYTEK following a memorandum of understanding focused on developing drone-light-show opportunities in Japan. That makes the event relevant beyond its visual scale: it demonstrates a working commercial partnership that can potentially be reused for other Japanese entertainment programs.
The record claim has useful context
In March 2025, Japan’s record-certification organization recognized the DIG SHIBUYA DG DRONE SHOW as the country’s largest drone show, based on 2,200 aircraft flown over Yoyogi Park. Digital Garage published the recognition details, including the February 8 performance date and March 13 certificate date.
The new 4,000-drone count is therefore a substantial increase over that previously documented mark. It should not, however, be confused with a world record. Large international displays have used more aircraft, and TryHard’s claim is specifically about the scale of a Japanese drone-formation show.
What the event does—and does not—prove technically
Coordinating thousands of light-show aircraft requires precise timing, carefully planned trajectories, reliable position control, geofencing, preflight verification and defined responses to weather or communications problems. The successful completion of a 4,000-aircraft sequence shows that the production team could manage those requirements at unusual scale.
But neither TryHard’s post-event announcement nor the detailed pre-event material identifies the exact aircraft model, navigation corrections, radio topology, control-station architecture or redundancy design. It would therefore be inaccurate to describe the performance as proof of a particular high-density GNSS or real-time mesh-network breakthrough.
The organizers had previously warned that weather and local radio conditions could force cancellation of the drone portion independently of the fireworks. That qualification offers a more grounded operational lesson: large entertainment swarms remain dependent on site surveys, environmental limits, airspace coordination and conservative go/no-go decisions.
Why this matters for the drone-entertainment market
Drone light shows are increasingly being integrated into established festivals rather than presented only as standalone demonstrations. For event producers, the aircraft become a programmable visual layer that can move, change scale and tell a story in ways conventional fireworks cannot. Fireworks still provide brightness and impact, while drones add repeatable imagery and animation.
For operators and technology suppliers, the practical challenge is not simply adding more aircraft. Commercial credibility depends on repeatable planning, regulatory compliance, crowd separation, site-specific risk controls and a reliable production workflow. A national scale record attracts attention, but the reusable operating system behind the show is what could support long-term growth.
What to watch next
Watch for independent publication of the record certification, additional technical information from EHang Egret or SKYTEK, and announcements of follow-on shows under the three-company collaboration. Those details will help distinguish a successful one-night production from a repeatable Japanese drone-entertainment platform.
Readers following large coordinated operations can explore more coverage in the All About UAVs Technology & Innovation archive.
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