Space Force Weather Services Research

Space Force Weather Services Research falls under the Air Force's Research, Development, Test & Evaluation (RDT&E) Budget Activity 3620F. The program aims to develop and evaluate integrated technologies and models for future operationalization into segments of the Space Force Weather Services (SFWS). This supports the 2018 National Defense Strategy's three lines of effort by providing timely, accurate, resilient, and relevant environmental information for global battlespace situational awareness for various military branches and government agencies. The program focuses on improving readiness, enhancing lethality and survivability of Air Force and Space Force weapon systems, strengthening alliances and partnerships, and ensuring greater performance and affordability through modernization efforts.

The specific objectives of this program include developing advanced scientific numerical weather prediction capabilities for automated, high-resolution forecast products for mission planning and execution. It also involves space weather modeling to characterize and forecast the near-earth environment to the sun and enable space weather anomaly and impact assessments. Additionally, the program aims to integrate Department of Defense, government agency, commercial, and international partner environmental data with SFWS information system equipment for analysis, forecasting, mission integration, and greater interoperability. The program also focuses on modernizing SFWS systems through improvements to architecture and system efficiency, cybersecurity, joint all-domain command and control (JADC2) and sensing grid integration, migration to cloud computing, and expanding agile software development practices.