WindBorne Wins U.S. Air Force Contract Worth Up to $49 Million

The U.S. Air Force will buy atmospheric data from WindBorne Systems’ fleet of autonomous weather balloons under a contract worth up to $49 million. The Air Force pays only when it needs data and can order readings for specific regions and times. So far, it has ordered $1.7 million worth.

WindBorne has about 700 balloons flying around the globe. They collect atmospheric sensor readings that the company sells to customers and uses in its own AI weather forecasting model. Founded in 2015 and based in Redwood City, California, WindBorne says this is the largest contract in which it has participated.

Co-founder and CTO Andrey Sushko told TechCrunch that the contract can support expansion of the balloon fleet and research and development to improve balloon hardware and performance. He said the contract was awarded without competitive bidding, adding that the government determined WindBorne was the only company able to meet its needs for collecting global data for these operations.

WindBorne released WeatherMesh 6 earlier this summer. The company says it produces more accurate forecasts than the traditional model run by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. In August, WindBorne became the first organization to send an unpowered flight system into a typhoon’s eye to collect data, according to the company’s account in the source report.