WindBorne Lands $49 Million US Air Force Balloon Data Contract

Summary

As of October 12, 2026, the U.S. Air Force has awarded Redwood City, California startup WindBorne Systems a noncompetitive, pay as needed contract worth up to $49 million, its largest contract, for atmospheric readings from about 700 autonomous balloons worldwide. The Air Force can order data for selected regions and times. It has committed $1.7 million, with executives expecting more. Co-founder and CTO Andrey Sushko said officials determined WindBorne alone met their global collection needs, while orders can expand the fleet and fund balloon hardware and performance research. Founded in 2015, WindBorne sells readings to customers, feeds them into its AI forecast model, and works with the National Weather Service, Air Force and Navy.

CEO John Dean disclosed a $37 million Series B in August. Earlier this summer, WindBorne released WeatherMesh 6, which it says beats the physics based forecast from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, or ECMWF. Transformer architectures and a large ECMWF dataset released several years ago let deep learning systems predict faster than supercomputer simulations. New laboratory and government models can outperform traditional forecasts, but results remain uneven and meteorologists still need both. Google DeepMind's latest model adds capabilities, while its cyclone tools increasingly guide U.S. hurricane responses. In August, WindBorne became the first organization to send an unpowered flight system into a typhoon's eye, steering with altitude changes, vented air and dropped sand ballast. Sushko called it an early use of deep learning for operational decisions, enabled by accurate wind models and a sufficiently large constellation.