Narrative:

When I took over sector 24; finley radar (qfi) had just been taken out of service for maintenance. Usually when this happens; affected adjacent facilities are notified. Aircraft X had already departed rdr but was still in gfk approach airspace. A short time later they called a handoff. I advised them that our radar was out and to terminate and ship aircraft X to me. The aircraft checked on requesting clearance into R5402 and R5403 which I could not do as those airspace were not active until about 20 minutes.as this was all playing out; the question was raised that these drones cannot be operating in our airspace if our radar is out of service as we cannot radar monitor them. In the meantime; a second aircraft; aircraft Y; departed heading for the airspace. By this time it was decided to recall the radar.in this situation; having a predetermined non-radar route to transition from approach control into the restricted areas would have solved the problem. In the bigger picture; there is a big push from the highest levels of government to get these drones integrated into the airspace system. Yet; very little thought seems to [be] given by these individuals as to what it really involves; how complex it is and most importantly; how to do it safely. All that seems to matter is it needs to be done so that people can make money.this is a very dangerous path to follow and can only lead to serious problems down the road. Safety should be the first order of business; not money. Procedures need to be developed to insure safe operation for all involved. These procedures need to be clear and not buried in legal terms.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZMP Controllers describe the radar being released to Maintenance for a specific time; then realized that they shouldn't be operating drones in the airspace if they don't have radar. Controllers then advise they get the radar back in service. Controllers state it is a big push to get drones integrated into the NAS; yet very little thought is being given to provide the controllers specific procedures.

Narrative: When I took over Sector 24; Finley Radar (QFI) had just been taken out of service for maintenance. Usually when this happens; affected adjacent facilities are notified. Aircraft X had already departed RDR but was still in GFK Approach airspace. A short time later they called a handoff. I advised them that our radar was out and to terminate and ship Aircraft X to me. The aircraft checked on requesting clearance into R5402 and R5403 which I could not do as those airspace were not active until about 20 minutes.As this was all playing out; the question was raised that these drones cannot be operating in our airspace if our radar is out of service as we cannot radar monitor them. In the meantime; a second aircraft; Aircraft Y; departed heading for the airspace. By this time it was decided to recall the radar.In this situation; having a predetermined non-radar route to transition from approach control into the restricted areas would have solved the problem. In the bigger picture; there is a big push from the highest levels of government to get these drones integrated into the airspace system. Yet; very little thought seems to [be] given by these individuals as to what it really involves; how complex it is and most importantly; how to do it safely. All that seems to matter is it needs to be done so that people can make money.This is a very dangerous path to follow and can only lead to serious problems down the road. Safety should be the first order of business; not money. Procedures need to be developed to insure safe operation for all involved. These procedures need to be clear and not buried in legal terms.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.