April 30, 2025, marked the 50th anniversary of Reunification Day, the day when the People’s Army of Vietnam and the Liberation Army of South Vietnam ended 20 years of war in Vietnam by capturing Saigon, now known as Ho Chi Minh City. Like liberation celebrations around the world, Reunification Day is a public holiday filled with a range of festivities. Public spaces are adorned with national symbols and colors, and parades and concerts are held. Many of these celebrations end with grand firework displays. However, as technology has advanced, the popularity of firework displays has been replaced by drone light shows.

Drone light shows present several benefits as an alternative form of nighttime aerial entertainment. Drone shows do not create any environmental waste. Unlike fireworks, they do not release smoke, heavy metals, or particulate matter that can contaminate the air or water. Additionally, as global warming has continued to increase threats of wildfires, many event organizers are cautious about using fireworks that could potentially lead to wildfires. Drones pose no such threats, making them a far safer option. Drones also eliminate the noise pollution associated with fireworks. This alleviates stressful situations for wildlife, pets, and even humans with noise sensitivities.

Besides the environmental and safety benefits a drone show provides to event organizers, reusable drones are also more cost-efficient. A typical firework show for a large event has a run time of about 30 minutes and can cost around $500,000, with some even reaching in excess of $1 million. A drone show on a similar scale will have a shorter run time, usually not more than 20 minutes. The cost of the show depends on the number of drones being used. For a mid-sized show featuring 300 drones, the price range is between $60,000 to $150,000, while a grand show featuring 1,000 or more drones could cost between $200,000 and $500,000.

A grand-sized drone show is exactly what the organizers of this year’s Reunification Day in Ho Chi Minh City were aiming for. In fact, the show was so grand that it set a new Guinness World Record. The public drone show was presented by the Vietnamese companies Prowtech International Vina JSC and LoonEyes Studio, in collaboration with China’s Damoda. Prowtech International Vina JSC is a leading advertising firm and is considered Vietnam’s leader in LED screen advertising. LoonEyes Studio is one of Vietnam’s premier visual effects entertainment studios. And Damoda is one of the world’s largest drone light show providers, specializing in large-scale drone shows.

Established in 2016, Damoda’s technology sets itself apart from competitors by operating large fleets of drones through a patented single ground control system that reduces synchronization errors and latency. The drones also rely on China’s BeiDou Navigation Satellite System rather than GPS, which enables greater positioning accuracy within China and many Asian territories. This, combined with the integration of AI autonomy, has allowed Damoda to perform more than 10,000 drone light shows with a 99.999% degree of reliability.

The official public drone show was supposed to take place on April 30, 2025; however, it was canceled for an undisclosed reason. Still, thousands of people, including a Guinness World Records Adjudicator, were able to witness Damoda’s latest record-breaking show during a rehearsal run on April 28. According to a statement from the Guinness World Records, “10,518 drones successfully went up into the air with precise unison, then the lights burst into the sky out of the darkness displaying multiple patriotic images to celebrate the anniversary. When the display finished, the drones returned to their starting positions.”

The drone show was a technological visual storytelling of the capture of Saigon, the modernization of Vietnam, and a vision of what lies ahead for the country’s future. The official Guinness World Record title was for the “Most Remote Controlled Multirotors/Drones Airborne Simultaneously”, the fourth such title Damoda has achieved. Damoda earned its first Guinness World Record for drone light shows on September 20, 2020, with a performance featuring 3,051 synchronized drones. As Vietnam celebrates 50 years of reunification, this record-breaking drone show not only honors the nation’s past but also showcases its technological ambition and creative spirit. By blending history with innovation, the event became a powerful symbol of how far Vietnam has come and where it is boldly headed next.

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