Drone News Roundup: 360 Drone Footage from World’s Tallest Bridge, How High You Can Fly Your Drone, and More!

This week we’re covering 360 drone footage shot by the Antigravity A1 at the tallest bridge in the world.

We’re also covering how high you can actually fly your drone, a YouTuber reverse engineering a $40k military drone for under $120, the Spirit drone’s perfect score on an extremely rigorous DOD security assessment, and DJI appealing the Pentagon’s “Chinese military company” designation.

Now let’s get to those links!

Flying the Antigravity A1 Over the World’s Tallest Bridge

Antigravity—Insta360’s drone spinoff—recently shared this stunning 360° flight over France’s Millau Viaduct. The Viaduct is the tallest bridge in the world, rising 1,125 feet above the Tarn Valley. The footage was shot on Antigravity’s A1, the first 360 drone with an integrated 360 camera, immersing viewers in a seamless aerial orbit that highlights both the viaduct’s massive scale and the surrounding sea of drifting clouds. The A1’s dual-lens 8K system erases the drone from the shot, producing the feeling of soaring over the bridge’s slender towers.

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How High Can You Really Fly Your Drone?

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YouTuber Reverse Engineers $40,000 Military Drone for $120

What goes into a $40,000 drone? YouTuber Data Slayer recently reverse engineered a $40K military-grade reconnaissance drone—for just $120.07. Using open-source components, the DIY build streams live video directly into ATAK, the tactical mapping software used by the military, enabling real-time situational awareness without the proprietary restrictions big defense contractors often impose. By integrating decentralized mesh networking and Starlink uplinks, the operator demonstrated live streaming capabilities even in signal dead zones—something that many billion-dollar defense systems still can’t do in open networks. Watch the video to see how Data Slayer pulled this off, and what the implications are for the future of high-end drone technology.

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Spirit Drone Gets First Perfect Score on DOD’s Most Demanding Cybersecurity Standard

Ascent AeroSystems has become the first U.S. drone company to achieve Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) Level 2, earning a rare perfect score of 110 out of 110. The score was given to Ascent’s Spirit drone, which is already designated as Blue UAS. To achieve this approval, Ascent had to implement all 110 security controls—covering domains like access control, incident response, encryption, and risk assessment—detailed in the National Institute of Standards and Technology Special Publication 800-171. The Department of Defense (DOD) will start requiring this high level of security for most new defense contracts by the end of the year, which means that many more drone companies will pursue it soon. But for now, Ascent is the first and only company to hold this high level of cybersecurity certification.

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DJI Appeals Pentagon’s “Chinese Military Company” Designation

Credit: DJI

DJI has taken its legal battle with the Pentagon to the U.S. Court of Appeals after a judge upheld the DOD’s designation of the company as a “Chinese Military Company.” DJI has continued to deny any military affiliation, emphasizing its history of opposing combat use of its products. And the federal judge who already decided DJI’s case—the verdict now being appealed—did side with DJI on this topic, rejecting the claim that DJI is owned or controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. Now DJI is trying to get that rejection formally recognized in appeals court.

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