"Enhancing WDA will deliver advanced capabilities to the Air Force, enabling the Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA) to process and disseminate data from next generation meteorological satellites more efficiently, significantly reducing sustainment costs," Raytheon Intelligence and Information Systems Director of Space and Environmental Mission Solutions James Olson said in a statement.

According to the contract, the AFWA’s analysis capabilities will be improved by upgrading the current meteorological satellite capability and legacy systems, installing new hardware to modernize the system and open source database and application servers to expand the weather center’s shared data environment. These advancements aim to allow the agency to maximize and distribute data collected by next generation weather satellites, including Suomi NPP and JPSS-1 and 2.

WDA is a major contributor to the AFWA enterprise and its updates are designed to provide a net-centric infrastructure capable of assimilating global sources of weather data to produce real-time information to warfighters under Increment 4, Build B. This advancement aims to give warfighters access to critical environmental and situational awareness intelligence, enhancing their competitive advantage in the battlespace.