China leads, US follows—Everest emerges as frontier for high-altitude drone tech

After China’s high-altitude drone breakthrough, a US firm enters the fray with cargo drones and a climbing robot.

It was China that first tested its heavy-lift drone on Mount Everest and succeeded. Now, an American drone company is vying to replicate that achievement, signalling a new technological contest unfolding on the slopes of the world’s highest mountain.