Pennsylvania Police use Giant Surveillance Balloon in search for Cop-killer Suspect Eric Frein

After six weeks of heavily armed searches for suspected cop-killer Eric Frein, Pennsylvania State Police have decided to try using something new—a $180,000 “blimp in a box.”

The police said they are using the experimental helium balloon equipped with cameras in the manhunt because it is less noisy and expensive than using a helicopter, according to ABC News.

"It is very similar to a weather balloon," Trooper Thomas Kelly said. "It is tethered, unmanned and can provide similar levels of technology as some of our aviation equipment at a fraction of the cost."

Police have spent an estimated $500,000 a week hunting down Frein, a 31-year-old self-survivalist who allegedly shot at the Blooming Grove state police barracks on Sept. 12. Trooper Bryon Dickson was killed in the attack and Trooper Alex Douglass was injured.

The "blimp in a box," now on loan from the Ohio Department of Transportation, is cheaper and costs about $1,000 to inflate, according to Dan Erdberg, the chief operating officer of balloon-maker Drone Aviation Corp.

The balloon will hang nearly 500 feet above the Pocono Mountain region, where police believe they have contained Frein in a 5-mile radius, according to Fox News. The 15-foot-in-diameter balloon is stationed in Paradise Township, Kelly said.

The balloon has one camera for the day and an infrared camera for night, according to NBC News. The cameras can locate people from 3 miles away and groups from 5 miles away.

Federal aviation authorities will have to be notified if the balloon, which is designed to fly as high as 1,000 feet, sails more than 500 feet.

The device can be fickle, according to Steve Faulkner, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Transportation, which bought the blimp this summer and used it over Ohio prisons.

 Image of the suspect Eric Frein

"Maneuvering the system itself can be tricky," Faulkner said. "It works great under great conditions. When it gets to be windy, there are some drift issues that make it tricky to operate."

Earlier this month, authorities said they discovered Frein's journal allegedly recounting the details of the shooting. The man on the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted" list stayed at different campsites, cooking himself dinner over a fire, and allegedly booby-trapped his hideouts with pipe bombs.

A local law enforcement agent reportedly saw the alleged shooter near the Swiftwater Post Office, causing nearby schools to close and Halloween to be canceled.