Weather Service

Abstract

This budget activity funds operational development necessary to acquire, sustain, and modernize Air Force Weather Service (AFWS) capabilities in support of the 2018 National Defense Strategy (NDS) lines of effort. To improve readiness for a more lethal force, AFWS provides timely, accurate, resilient, and relevant environmental information, to include space environment and terrestrial weather, for global battlespace situational awareness for Air Force (AF), Army, Special Operations Forces (SOF), combatant commands, the intelligence community, and other government agencies. AFWS capabilities at home station and deployed provide critical support to 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 DoD weapon systems. The AF Weather Enterprise 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. To strengthen alliances and partnerships, AFWS development efforts integrate DoD, government agency, commercial, and international partner environmental data with AFWS information system equipment for processing, storing, exploiting, and disseminating multi-domain weather information for analysis, forecasting, mission integration, and greater interoperability. Funding for AFWS development ensures greater performance and affordability through improvements to architecture and system efficiency, cybersecurity, joint all-domain command and control (JADC2)/advanced battle management system (ABMS)/sensing grid integration, migration to cloud computing, artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) initiatives, and expanding agile software development, delivery, and integration practices. 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 decisions. Of these four capability areas, two (Weather Data Analysis and Dissemination and Weather Forecasting) are addressed by APPN 3600, BA 07, PE 0305111F, Project 672738 - Weather Service. In FY2021, a portion of the APPN 3600 funding and activities from Weather Data Analysis and Dissemination and Weather Forecasting will begin to migrate to the PTWA capability area to better address development of applications, software, C2 systems, and web interfaces that directly impact the warfighter. 1. Weather Data Analysis and Dissemination provides cloud-computing-based Continuous Delivery/Continuous Integration (CD/CI) for software development and deployment; command and control and mission planning integration; centralized, cybersecure weather web service capability; large-scale data ingest, processing, and warfighter product generation and visualization; global, regional, and mission execution forecasts; specific, mission-tailored weather data on demand; and weapon system interoperability which shortens the Combatant Commander kill chain through machine to machine interfaces. The Weather Data Analysis and Dissemination capability area includes activities for Weather Data Analysis Increment 4 (WDA Inc-4) and its follow-on increment, Weather Data Analysis Increment 5 (WDA Inc-5). WDA Inc-4 was previously referred to as WDA. 2. Weather Forecasting provides advanced scientific numerical weather prediction capabilities for automated, high-resolution forecast products for mission planning, rehearsal, and execution with an emphasis on clouds, theater scale weather, aerosol/chemical constituents, and space environment characterization. Weather Forecasting includes activities for Numerical Weather Modeling (NWM); Weather Services - Live, Virtual, Constructive (WS-LVC), and Space Weather Analysis and Forecast System (SWAFS). This program element may include necessary civilian pay expenses required to manage, execute, and deliver Weather Service weapon system capability. The use of such program funds would be in addition to the civilian pay expenses budgeted in program element 0605831F. 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 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.

Document Details

• Document Type: Project
• Publication Date: Oct 01, 2021
• Source ID: 672738_0305111F_7_3600_PB_2021

Tags

Fields of Study

• Environmental science

Readers

• Aerospace Engineering.
• Atmospheric Science/Meteorology
• Enterprise Information Systems Architecture and Joint Command Capability Interoperability Support.

Technology Areas

• AI & ML
• AI & ML - DoD AI Strategy
• Cyber
• Fully Networked C3
• Fully Networked C3 - Command and Control
• Space