Definition
A United States Air Force organization that provides weather products and services to military and, in some cases, civilian users. In the context of NEXRAD, AFWA is one of the federal agencies that operates and shares data from the national network of Doppler weather radars, alongside the National Weather Service and the FAA.
Plain English
An Air Force unit that handles weather information. It helps run and use the same network of weather radars that civilian pilots rely on for storm and precipitation data.
Context Anchor
Seen in the PHAK discussion of NEXRAD, where older FAA material names organizations involved in providing weather radar information.
Derivation
AFWA is formed from the first letters of Air Force Weather Agency. The name tells you it was an Air Force organization focused on weather services, not a piece of aircraft equipment.
Why Pilots Care
Knowing the source helps pilots understand the origin and reliability of certain weather radar images and forecasts during preflight planning.
Intuition Check
AFWA is not a radar unit in the airplane. In this context, it refers to the Air Force organization that handled weather information.
Example Sentence 1
The NEXRAD network is jointly operated by the National Weather Service, the FAA, and AFWA.
Example Sentence 2
Pilots reviewing the weather briefing noticed AFWA as the provider for the regional radar mosaic.