The Cyberlux File

Where did the money go?

A $78.8 million subcontract for 2,000 drones. A stated unit cost of $4,700. DD-250 acceptance for 392 drones. The public record does not need embellishment; it needs to be placed side by side.

Contract value$78.8M
Ordered2,000 drones
DD-250 accepted392 drones
Accepted value$14.95M
What was ordered. What was accepted.

The delivery record is narrower than the contract story.

Ordered2,000

drones under the HII-Cyberlux subcontract, with a total value of $78,857,414.20.

vs
Accepted392

DD-250 accepted drones, valued in the Fairwinds commission schedule at $14,954,400.

The remaining 1,608 units do not appear in the DD-250 acceptance record. Modification 4 instead classifies them by lot and condition.

392DD-250 accepted units$14,954,400 accepted value.
37Group A12 K8-1 kits and 25 K8-2 kits stated as passed HII-witnessed FAT, awaiting Government acceptance and shipment at the SWO.
745Group B248 K8-1 and 497 K8-2 drones stated as QC / bench-tested; FAT not yet occurred; not placed into drone-kit configuration.
526Group CWork in progress: 46 with pre-SWO assembly documentation, 383 without pre-SWO assembly documentation, and 97 with post-SWO assembly documentation.
300Group DComponents, parts, and spares associated with 300 drone builds; assembly stated as not initiated prior to the SWO.
What a drone cost. What was paid.

The spread is the story.

CEO stated cost$4,700

Described as including materials, labour, pack, long-range radio, FPV, controller, specialised drone, munitions container, and ignition control.

Internal target$6,700

The same stated cost plus an additional $2,000.

DD-250 value average$38,149

Based on $14,954,400 in accepted value divided by 392 accepted drones.

$4.7K cost$38.1K accepted value

That is about an 8.1x price-to-cost spread using the DD-250 accepted value average, before commission claims, financing claims, and post-termination litigation are layered on top.

Money flow snapshot

The main pools now reconcile to the record.

Advance payment$38,700,6008 September 2023
HII received funds$25.77Mcloseout / Mod 4 pool
EDVA disputed funds$23.736Mafter HII deductions
Accepted delivery$14.95M392 DD-250 accepted drones
Contract architecture

A conservative reference view of the $78.8M face value.

$78.8Mface value

This is not a finding. It is a visual reconciliation aid: stated production cost, a 15% reference profit layer, named commission claims, known non-production uses, and the remaining amount not cleanly reconciled by the available public records.

Interrogate the record