Weather Service reaches out to industry for new tornado-detection weather radar in data-as-a-service model
SILVER SPRING, Md. – The U.S. National Weather Service is reaching out to industry to find companies able to develop a nationwide network of radar stations to detect and warn of severe weather like tornadoes, hurricanes, winter weather, and floods.
Officials of the U.S. National Weather Service in Silver Spring, Md., issued a request for information (RaaS_RADARNEXT) last week for the Radar-As-A-Service project to replace the aging Weather Surveillance Radar (WSR-88D) of the interagency Next Generation Radar (NEXRAD) program.
Weather Service experts plan to develop a backbone of S-band weather radars with better performance and coverage than the current NEXRAD network, with a goal of ensuring continuity of radar data without disruption from aging infrastructure.
The National Weather Service is exploring a data-as-a-service model that will purchase commercial data to incorporate into Weather Service operations. This announcement will help determine if qualified sources exist, and if so to craft a future industry solicitation.
NEXRAD WSR-88D replacement
Today's NEXRAD WSR-88D is one of the most important observation systems in the nation, and supports detecting and warning for severe weather like tornadoes, hurricanes, winter weather, and floods, Weather Service officials say.
The new weather radar network also will expand radar coverage -- particularly at low levels -- and create a scalable radar network able to meet changing needs and technological advancements, and improve radar capabilities and data accuracy.
From industry, the Weather Service wants to know if companies could provide contractor-owned-and-operated S-band weather radar systems with better performance than today's NEXRAD.
The Weather Service wants to pay only for weather data by subscription, while contractors pick up the costs of design, development, production, installation, testing, data integration, data delivery, operations, and maintenance.
Of interest are radar types; number of sites necessary; subscription rates; and deployment timelines. Also of interest are anticipated barriers to entry, market risks, and the downsides of the radar-as-a-service data subscription model.
Companies interested should email 15-page responses in Adobe Acrobat .PDF format no later than 18 June 2025 to the Weather Service's Kevin Buum at [email protected], Tammy Buie at [email protected], and Holly Ferguson at [email protected]. More information is online at https://sam.gov/opp/d7cf86db56bf4d88a6e53ae299acce2d/view.
John Keller | Editor-in-Chief
John Keller is the Editor-in-Chief, Military & Aerospace Electronics Magazine--provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronics and optoelectronic technologies in military, space and commercial aviation applications. John has been a member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since 1989 and chief editor since 1995.
