Complex sentence: Greater Manchester Police trialled a blimp in 2010 to provide surveillance for major events which would be a cheaper alternative to the use of a helicopter in the long term, however, the blimp was only used on 18 occasions and scrapped due to weather related operational problems.
Split into simpler sentences: Greater Manchester Police trialled a blimp in 2010 to provide surveillance for major events which would be a cheaper alternative to the use of a helicopter in the long term. However, the blimp was only used on 18 occasions and scrapped due to weather related operational problems.