Cantwell introduces Hurricane Hunter Aircraft Recapitalization Act

The side of NOAA's WP-3D Hurricane Hunter "Miss Piggy" displays stickers representing hurricanes the aircraft has flown through over its 50 years of service. Each sticker represents a mission that provided critical data to forecasters, helping improve storm predictions and deliver more accurate warnings to communities in harm's way.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, yesterday introduced the Hurricane Hunter Aircraft Recapitalization Act. 

The legislation will, for the first time, codify the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA's) Hurricane Hunter mission in federal law and authorize up to nine Hurricane Hunter aircraft. It also includes provisions to better prepare the nation’s first line of defense against stronger and more frequent hurricanes, atmospheric rivers, and winter storms.

The bill is cosponsored by U.S. Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Ted Budd (R-NC).

NOAA's WP-3D Hurricane Hunter “Miss Piggy.” The aircraft collects vital data from inside hurricanes and severe storms, improving forecast accuracy and warning lead times for communities across the United States.

“As atmospheric rivers become more frequent and severe across the Pacific Northwest, our communities increasingly depend on accurate forecasts to prepare for flooding and other extreme weather,” said Sen. Cantwell. 

“NOAA’s Hurricane Hunter aircraft collect critical data that improves those forecasts, but much of the fleet is more than 50 years old. This bipartisan legislation will modernize and expand the fleet, strengthening NOAA’s ability to provide the timely, accurate warnings that help keep families, businesses, and communities safe.”

Inside the cockpit of NOAA's Gulfstream IV-SP (G-IV) Hurricane Hunter aircraft. The G-IV flies above hurricanes and atmospheric rivers, deploying dropsondes that measure wind, pressure, temperature, and moisture. These observations fill critical data gaps over the ocean, improving forecasts and helping communities better prepare for flooding, landslides, and other storm-related hazards.

NOAA's Hurricane Hunter aircraft conduct airborne weather reconnaissance missions that are essential to accurate storm track and intensity forecasts, giving coastal communities critical lead time to evacuate and prepare. 

The aircraft also carry out atmospheric river reconnaissance, providing data that improves forecasting of the extreme precipitation events that drive flooding and landslides across the western United States. 

The existing fleet is aging, and without investment in replacement aircraft and modernized radar and remote sensing capabilities, the continuity of these life-saving missions is at risk. 

For example, NOAA’s two WP-3D aircraft that fly through hurricanes, Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy, will reach the end of their service life in 2030. While two C-130J aircraft are currently being built to replace them, with increasing severe storms and atmospheric rivers, NOAA needs additional aircraft to meet their mission requirements.

In December 2025, atmospheric rivers dumped an estimated five trillion gallons of rain across Washington state, triggering devastating floods, damaging homes and businesses, and disrupting critical transportation corridors. In the western United States, atmospheric rivers are responsible for 84 percent of flood damages—costing approximately $1.1 billion annually—and account for 97 percent of flood damages in King County alone.

Following the December storms, at least 73 landslides were reported across Washington, with many more likely going undocumented. Major transportation routes were severely impacted, including U.S. Highway 2 near Leavenworth, which remained closed for weeks due to flood damage, while floodwaters washed out 1,000 feet of a primary access road in Stehekin.

NOAA's Hurricane Hunter aircraft collect unique atmospheric data that significantly improves forecasts of atmospheric rivers and other major storms, providing communities with earlier and more accurate warnings. As atmospheric rivers become more frequent and intense, expanding NOAA's weather reconnaissance fleet and codifying atmospheric river reconnaissance as part of its mission is critical to protecting lives, infrastructure, and local economies across the Pacific Northwest.

These forecasts are critical around the country, too. Today, the first named storm of the 2026 hurricane season made landfall in the U.S., and NOAA forecasters warned that it is expected to produce rainfall totals of 5 to 10 inches, with isolated higher totals near 20 inches, resulting that it could result in life-threatening flash flooding in states along the Gulf Coast.

The Hurricane Hunter Aircraft Recapitalization Act would:

• Authorize $2.5 billion in appropriations to purchase more Hurricane Hunter aircraft and $45 million per year for NOAA aircraft operations and maintenance.
• Codify NOAA's Hurricane Hunter mission in federal law, establishing a permanent statutory foundation for airborne weather reconnaissance and research.
• Increase the authorized number of C-130J aircraft from a maximum of six, to at least six and up to nine, to meet increasing storm demands across the country.
• Direct NOAA to acquire aircraft to meet its airborne weather reconnaissance mission, including atmospheric river reconnaissance that supports flood forecasting in the West and across the country.
• Require NOAA to maintain backup aircraft to ensure continuity of operations if aircraft are grounded due to maintenance or mechanical issues.
• Modernize airborne radar and remote sensing capabilities to ensure Hurricane Hunter aircraft are equipped with the most up to technology available.
• Authorize multi-year contracting authority for future aircraft acquisition and support, enabling more efficient and cost-effective procurement needed to speed up aircraft purchases and save taxpayer dollars.
• Codify the requirement that NOAA maintain a sufficient number of qualified NOAA Corps pilots, preserving the specialized expertise these Hurricane Hunter flights demand.

The dropsonde launch tube aboard NOAA's WP-3D Hurricane Hunter aircraft. As the aircraft flies through a hurricane, crew members release dropsondes—small weather instruments that descend by parachute and measure wind, air pressure, temperature, and humidity. The data they transmit in real time provides forecasters with critical information about a storm's structure and intensity.

Sen. Cantwell is leading the effort to improve the nation’s weather forecasting capabilities. Earlier this year, she led a letter to Senate appropriators along with Sens. Padilla, Andy Kim (D-NJ), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), and Ron Wyden (D-OR) requesting robust funding for NOAA aircraft operations, including $11 million to finalize acquisition of a second G550, and $357 million to purchase an additional C-130J aircraft.

In March, Sen. Cantwell’s Weather Act, which authorizes programs at NOAA that will strengthen weather research and forecasting to save lives and better prepare our nation against dangerous weather disasters, unanimously passed the Commerce Committee. 

The Weather Act is an important component of Sen. Cantwell’s 5 Point Plan to bolster U.S. weather readiness, which she outlined in a letter to President Donald Trump in July 2025. 

Earlier this year, she introduced legislation to establish the Radar Next Program which will carry out deployment of the nation’s next generation weather radar system. Last August, she introduced legislation to modernize the nation’s weather communication and radio service as the country faces increasingly powerful floods, fires, and hurricanes.

Sen. Cantwell’s provision in the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2022, which was passed into law through the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023, directed NOAA to acquire adequate aircraft to meet its air reconnaissance and research mission and authorized six aircraft to replace the aging WP-3D aircraft, along with $800 million in funding. 

Sen. Cantwell helped secure $3.3 billion in NOAA investments in the Inflation Reduction Act to help communities prepare for and adapt to climate change, boost science needed to understand changing weather and climate patterns, and invest in advanced computer technologies that are critical for extreme weather prediction and emergency response. 

Her Fire Ready Nation Act, bipartisan legislation to strengthen NOAA’s ability to help forecast, prevent, and fight wildfires, passed the Senate in September of last year.

The text of the bill is HERE.