Defense · Companies and people
US Air Force awards AI weather startup WindBorne up to $49 million for data from its balloons
The US Air Force has awarded WindBorne Systems a contract worth up to $49 million for atmospheric data gathered by its balloons around the globe, TechCrunch reported on October 12. The figure is a ceiling: the Air Force orders data for specific regions at specific times and pays only for what it needs. So far it has ordered $1.7 million worth. The contract was awarded without competitive bidding; co-founder Andrey Sushko said the government determined WindBorne was the only company able to provide the global data in the way it needed. WindBorne steers about 700 balloons by changing their altitude to ride the winds, sells the readings and feeds them into its own AI forecasting model, WeatherMesh. It is the company’s largest contract to date.
Sources
- TechCrunch, “WindBorne wins a hefty US Air Force contract for its balloon data”, Up to $49M, $1.7M ordered, no competitive bidding; image source, (techcrunch.com)
- WindBorne Systems, “WindBorne Systems Raises $37 Million to Build the World’s Weather Intelligence Infrastructure”, Autonomous balloons and WeatherMesh, (windbornesystems.com)
- WindBorne Systems, “Landing a WindBorne Balloon in the Eye of Typhoon Dolphin”, How balloons are steered by changing altitude, (webflow.windbornesystems.com)
About this story
This story was posted on Instagram by @jarrus.tech on Oct. 13, 2026.
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Short link: thejarrus.com/en/windborne-air-force
This story in Turkish: ABD Hava Kuvvetleri, yapay zeka hava tahmini girişimi WindBorne’a, balonlarının verisi için 49 milyon dolara kadar sözleşme verdi
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