WindBorne wins US Air Force contract worth up to $49M for balloon data

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. So far it has ordered $1.7 million worth of data, paying only as it requests specific regions and times. WindBorne operates about 700 balloons and feeds the readings into its WeatherMesh 6 AI forecasting model.

• Air Force contract valued at up to $49 million
• $1.7 million in data ordered so far, paid per request
• WindBorne fleet numbers about 700 autonomous weather balloons
• Contract awarded without competitive bidding as sole qualified provider