WindBorne Systems has secured a significant contract with the U.S. Air Force for data collected by its fleet of autonomous weather balloons. The deal could be worth nearly $50 million, representing the company's largest contract to date. WindBorne, based in Redwood City, California, has been providing atmospheric data to government agencies and commercial clients since its founding in 2015.
The contract is valued at up to $49 million, but the Air Force will only pay as it requires data. So far, the agency has ordered $1.7 million worth of data, with executives anticipating more orders.
WindBorne’s system includes about 700 weather balloons that collect atmospheric sensor readings, which the company sells to customers and uses to feed its AI weather forecasting model.
"This is largely a vehicle through which continued growth of the constellation can be supported, as well as some work on research and development to continue to improve the hardware and performance of the balloons," said Andrey Sushko, co-founder and CTO of WindBorne.
He added that the contract, awarded without competitive bidding, reflects the government’s determination that WindBorne was the only company capable of providing the required global data collection.
WindBorne has been working closely with U.S. government agencies, including the National Weather Service and the Air Force and Navy. The company has also released its latest forecasting model, WeatherMesh 6, which it claims offers more accurate forecasts than the traditional model used by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF).
The company has demonstrated its capabilities by sending an unpowered flight system into the eye of a typhoon earlier this summer. This achievement highlights the integration of deep-learning models with operational decision-making. "It’s one of the first times that a deep-learning model was used for actual operational decisions," Sush, said.
WindBorne did not specify the exact details of future expansion plans, and the company acknowledged that both AI and traditional forecasting models are still needed to fully understand weather patterns. The company plans to continue improving its hardware and performance through the contract.
Source: techcrunch
