Air Force awards Ball Aerospace $255M contract mod for Weather System Follow-On program

The Air Force awarded Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. a $255 million contract modification today for the Weather System Follow-On Microwave program.

The Nov. 11 award will cover development and fabrication of the first WSF-M space vehicle, and work is expected to be complete in January 2023. It builds on an initial $92 million contract last November, which covered design and risk-reduction for the effort.  

WSF-M is part of the broader WSF program, which is aimed at addressing the Air Force's slate of weather characterization, sensing and monitoring requirements. The service also plans to develop WSF Electro-Optical/Infrared satellites, WSF-E, the first of which should launch in fiscal year 2024.