The Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA) operates the largest weather computing processing center in the U.S. military on a continuous 24 hour-per-day, 365 day-per-year basis. Their mission includes a global capability to collect, analyze, model, and disseminate meteorological data and products. MAIS is a very key component of AFWA's mission.
Following the base closures of the early 1990s, many Reserve Component units lost their active duty source of flying weather information. In 1995, the HQ USAF Directorate of Weather (USAF/XOW) began working with the National Guard and the Air Force Reserve to develop an Air Force Weather solution: the MAIS concept was born. As the MAIS architecture unfolded AFWA determined that the Air Force Weather Information Network (AFWIN) could provide the basic server-client system required to support MAIS. Many flyers were involved in the development of MAIS to ensure the new system met their needs. The system was designed to select, via user details and preferences, the type of weather information desired for a particular mission.
For aircrew members, MAIS will walk a user through a basic flight route determination process via point and click maps or alphanumeric input to identify the locations where weather information is desired. MAIS will select and display information such as Terminal Aerodrome Forecasts, current observations, Notices-to-Airmen (NOTAMs), flight hazards (such as icing and turbulence), radar/satellite loops, lightning data, and other pertinent information on a map background along a selected flight route. The aircrew members can print out what they need and carry along for later reference in flight. MAIS users access the system over the Internet or via a direct dial modem connection using available browser software.
MAIS development continues to this day. The MAIS development team already has a laundry list of enhancements and new features for the system. First and foremost is the expansion to world-wide coverage. Following close behind is increased robustness to handle the tremendous additional load of active duty aircrews, many of which have seen MAIS and are very impressed.