Like Massah says, It could be very easily.
Exerpt from the Police One article:
What Was That You Said About Free?
Sure, the ShadowHawk can cost upwards of a half million dollars not counting the ground school, the insurance, the maintenance, and the upkeep for an agency. But Buscher and his team have been successful in helping at least one agency secure a federal grant that paid every last dime of those costs.
The company is preparing to deliver the system to Montgomery County (Texas) Sheriffs Department, which is among the largest departments in the United States. Vanguard was able to work with the agency to develop a winning grant proposal that allowed the entire cost of acquisition, training, insurance, and maintenance for a period two years to be absorbed in an Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI) grant. They now have a model for success to follow on the grants front, and surely the folks at PoliceGrantsHelp can provide additional assistance.
I wonder what the general population would say if they knew this? I wonder how much SS and medicare has to get cut so we can afford a small fleet of these? And I suppose this falls under Federal Spending Cuts. Whats a few million when you're 100 trillion in debt anyway?
BTW, anyone else bothered by the Urban Areas Security Initiative? I thought we were securing our borders, not the inner cities. What are we securing the cities from? US?