FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) — The Fort Wayne police department is nearing a new addition to its arsenal.

At last week’s city council meeting, $119,500 was approved to buy an Autel Dragonfish Standard Drone, and the department says in about 3 months it’ll be in use.

“I’m pretty excited,” said Matt Rowland who works with FWPD’s air support unit. “We’ve been talking about this drone for a while, we originally put it in our budget for last May.”

Rowland says that this new drone will have a much longer battery life, and be able to operate at much longer distances.

He says it will allow the FWPD to use it for what they use normal drones for right now. Monitoring an area or search and rescue, but in addition, it will be able to provide more advanced tasks like dignitary protection.

“I really think it’s going to save lives,” Rowland said.