(KNOX) –The Northeast Region UAS Drone Team has received a $152,000 state grant that will purchase a new drone. This drone will be used for search and rescue operations, as well as for disaster response.
The Grand Forks County Sheriff’s Office runs this drone team, and they will buy the vertical takeoff fixed-wing drone. The drone itself costs $86,000, and its camera will cost another $38,000. The rest of the money will be used for training, as well as buying parts, batteries and a satellite link.
The drones the department currently have can stay in the air for 35 minutes before they need to get a new battery. The new drone will be able to fly for over five hours.
The Northeast Region UAS Drone Team is run by the sheriff’s office, but it also works with both the Grand Forks Police and Fire Departments, the UND Police Department, the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation, and the Police Departments in East Grand Forks and Crookston.
The team works in 16 counties in North Dakota, and in both Polk and Norman counties in Minnesota. They have 20 drones and most of them are kept at the sheriff’s office.
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