The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.
The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.
From July 17 to Aug. 4, 2023, a team of NOAA and industry uncrewed aircraft professionals conducted flight operations at Vandenberg Space Force Base in Lompoc, California, to expand the agency’s use of uncrewed aircraft to gather mission critical data.
NOAA has awarded three Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts to five small business manufacturers of uncrewed marine systems with a potential combined value of $22.5 million. IDIQ contracts allow the agency to streamline the processing and delivery of commercial products and services from industry vendors.
Uncrewed aircraft and marine systems have great potential to enhance and expand the ways that NOAA meets its mission to understand and predict changes in climate, weather, ocean and coasts.
The NOAA Uncrewed Systems Operations Center has selected nine projects that use private-sector operated uncrewed marine systems in an innovative partnership to collect data for NOAA missions. In total, $7.5 million will be allocated in fiscal year 2023.
At NOAA, we are always looking for the safest and most efficient way to collect the data we need. These days, innovative technology plays a big part in that.
On September 28, 2022, the crew of a NOAA WP-3D Orion hurricane hunter aircraft launched a 27-pound uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) into Hurricane Ian. The drone, an Area-I Altius-600, completed a two-hour mission. This was the first time an Altius-600 had been deployed into a hurricane.
Five saildrones supported by NOAA's Uncrewed Systems Operations Center and NOAA's Weather Program Office will operate in the western Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea in areas frequented by tropical storms and hurricanes. Learn more in this NOAA Research article.
NOAA and the University of Southern Mississippi (USM) signed a 10-year agreement on Feb. 4, 2021 to partner on ways to improve how uncrewed systems (UxS) are used to collect important ocean observation data and augment NOAA’s operational capabilities. The agreement provides a framework for collaborating with NOAA scientists and UxS operators on projects to further UxS research, development and operations. UxS are sensor-equipped vehicles that operate autonomously or are remotely piloted.
