WindBorne secures Air Force deal worth up to $49 million
WindBorne Systems, a startup developing autonomous weather balloons, has won a significant contract with the U.S. Air Force worth up to $49 million. This represents the company's largest government contract to date and validates its approach of using AI and empirical data to improve weather forecasting, an increasingly important area where deep-learning models are proving more accurate than traditional physics-based methods.
The startup operates a constellation of approximately 700 weather balloons globally that collect atmospheric data fed into its AI weather forecasting model, WeatherMesh 6. Although the contract is valued at up to $49 million, the Air Force has so far ordered just $1.7 million worth of data, with the ability to place additional orders for specific regions and times as needed. Founded in 2015 and based in California, WindBorne recently raised $37 million in Series B funding and has conducted pioneering work, including becoming the first organisation to send an unpowered flight system to collect data inside a typhoon eye.
- US Air Force awards WindBorne $49 million contract for autonomous weather balloon data
- Company operates 700 autonomous balloons globally feeding data into AI forecasting model
- Contract validates AI weather forecasting, deemed superior to traditional physics-based methods
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WindBorne Systems operates a global fleet of approximately 700 automated weather balloons that collect atmospheric data. The company uses artificial intelligence to analyse this data and produce more accurate weather forecasts than traditional methods.
Accurate weather forecasting has become increasingly important, and systems using artificial intelligence are proving more reliable for predictions than older methods. The U.S. Air Force requires dependable weather data for planning and executing its military operations.
The Air Force has awarded WindBorne a contract potentially worth $49 million, though the initial order is only $1.7 million with options for additional purchases. The California company, founded in 2015, recently secured $37 million in funding and has completed pioneering research, such as collecting weather data from inside typhoons.
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Originally published by TechCrunch as “WindBorne wins a hefty US Air Force contract for its balloon data”.