The Weather Systems Branch of the Digital Directorate at Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts signed a memorandum of agreement to gain access to the Defense Innovation Unit’s Commercial Solutions Opening process.
The CSO pathway will enable the branch to shorten its technology procurement timeline and reach a more diverse pool of vendors, including previous commercial partners, the U.S. Air Force Materiel Command said Wednesday.
DIU’s collaboration with the Weather Systems Branch has so far resulted in five contracts awarded within 122 days of solicitation. Tomorrow.io, a weather technology company, was selected to provide three months of observational weather data, design a prototype featuring numerical data assimilation algorithms and test it through simulation experiments.
DIU also appointed Nirav Patel, its senior scientist and remote sensing program manager, to oversee the MOA and provide CSO procedure training to the Digital Directorate.
