Weather Service

Mission — Weather Service source

This budget activity funds the operational development necessary to acquire and modernize Air Force Weather Service [AFWS] capabilities in support of the 2022 National Defense Strategy's [NDS] three lines of effort. To improve readiness for a more lethal force, AFWS provides timely, accurate, resilient, and relevant environmental information to enable global battle-space situational awareness for the Air Force [AF], Army, Special Operations Forces [SOF], Space Force [USSF], combatant commands, the Intelligence Community [IC], and other government agencies. AFWS provides extreme weather impacts and assessments, as well as space and terrestrial weather sensing, forecasting, and weather analytic capabilities, at home station and deployed, in order to deliver critical environmental information in support of decision makers to gain the asymmetric advantage during the full spectrum of air and space combat operations. AFWS decreases the risk to mission and risk to force by increasing the lethality, effectiveness, and survivability of Department of Defense [DoD] weapon systems. To strengthen alliances and partnerships, AFWS development efforts integrate DoD, government agency, commercial, and international partner environmental data and software with AFWS information systems for processing, storing, exploiting, and disseminating all-domain weather information for analysis, forecasting, mission integration, and greater interoperability. To ensure greater performance and affordability for the Department of the AF, AFWS sensors and information systems are being modernized through improvements to architecture and system efficiency, cybersecurity, joint all-domain command and control [JADC2] and sensing grid integration, environmental sensor development, migration to cloud computing, artificial intelligence and machine learning [AI/ML] initiatives, and expanding agile software development, rapid delivery, and integration practices. The AF Weather Enterprise digital transformation and cloud migration effort modernizes key capabilities providing the military advantage to accurately predict environmental impacts optimizing mission planning, targeting, weaponeering, mission execution, battle damage assessment, and space systems operations. AFWS aligns activities under four capability areas: Weather Data Collection, Weather Data Analysis and Dissemination, Weather Forecasting, and Product Tailoring/Warfighter Applications [PTWA]. This alignment ensures an integrated and systems-oriented approach to program management and technical baseline decisions. All four capability areas are addressed by APPN 3600, BA 07, PE 0305111F, Project 672738 - Weather Service. Weather Data Analysis [WDA] Increment 5 and Weather Applications Rapid Production [WARPspeed] programs of record are Software Acquisition Pathway Programs. 1. Weather Data Collection provides automated atmospheric and ground-based space environmental sensing capabilities at fixed and deployed locations worldwide. The data gathered by multiple sensor systems is exploited for environmental battlespace awareness, characterization, safety of flight, resource protection, and satellite anomaly assessments and impacts. 2. Weather Data Analysis and Dissemination provides a multi-level security classification and cybersecure cloud computing-based platform supporting large-scale environmental data ingest, processing, and product generation, Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery [CI/CD] and AI/ML environments for AFWS software development and deployment, and machine-to-machine dissemination of specific, mission-tailored weather data on-demand to support warfighter operations, weapon system interoperability, rapidly integrating into C2 nodes, and shortening the Combatant Commander kill chain. The Weather Data Analysis and Dissemination capability area includes activities for Weather Data Analysis Increment 5 [WDA Inc 5]. 3. Weather Forecasting provides global and regional advanced scientific numerical weather and extreme weather prediction capabilities for automated, high-resolution forecast products supporting mission planning and execution with an emphasis on clouds, theater scale weather, aerosol/chemical constituents, hydrology, machine learning, and space environmental characterization. Weather Forecasting includes activities for Numerical Weather Modeling [NWM] 4. Product Tailoring Warfighter Applications [PTWA] develops and modernizes software applications that provide and enhance environmental information to support rapid warfighter decision-making. PTWA includes the program, Weather Applications Rapid Production [WARPspeed], which is a suite of software applications developed and delivered across multiple security classification levels. WARPspeed encompasses weather workflow tools and decision aids used to tailor terrestrial and space environmental information, which include both Forecaster-in-the-Loop [FITL] and automated machine-to-machine processes enhanced by AI/ML. WARPspeed leverages the WDA Inc 5 cloud computing, data processing, and CI/CD and AI/ML platforms to rapidly develop, deliver, and sustain software capabilities, whether deployed into the AF Weather Virtual Private Cloud [AFW-VPC] and to warfighter processing nodes at the edge. Activities include research and analysis to support current program planning. Management Service costs include Federally Funded Research and Development Centers [FFRDC] and Advisory and Assistance Service [A&AS]. This requirement supports performance of a full financial audit as required by title 10 U.S.C. Chapter 9A, SEC 240-D. This program element may include necessary civilian pay expenses required to manage, execute, and deliver Weather Service capability. The use of such program's funds would be in addition to the civilian pay expenses budgeted in program element 0605827F, 0605828F, 0605829F, 0605831F, 0605832F, 0605833F, 0605898F, 0606398F. In FY24 $0.264M was expended for civilian pay expenses in this program element, and in FY25 $0.337M is forecasted for civilian pay expenses in this program element. This program is in Budget Activity 7, Operational System Development because this budget activity includes development efforts to upgrade systems that have been fielded or have received approval for full rate production and anticipate production funding in the current or subsequent fiscal year.

Accomplishments & Planned Programs (6)