DSCA notifications are a reflection of a request and not a contract. Nations request all sort of integrations, hardware, software, weapons, options and support they they may never end up contracting for (to avoid having to go through the long FMS process again). Similarly, the more nation specific or non US std. content (hardware, software or service) that is requested the more these numbers tend to deviate from actual contracted prices. This is because the DOS is extremely conservative in cases it doesn’t have the cost of a system, integration, or service that does not have a US analogous. Finally, since the last year or so, much like the F-16 the MQ-9 has been commoditized in terms of firm configuration with all those contracts for FMS having been negotiated and awarded upfront under an IDIQ scenario. So a low firm fixed price FMS number is the result with each individual customer negotiating any deviation from that baseline configuration separately through either an independent (DCS) route or via subsequent upgrades. The baseline system and its components have been negotiated and agreed upon by GOTUS and the OEM's concerned. You just need to tell them the quantity for a given year and they'll deliver that. No need to negotiate each case and each component within each case separately. A better defined IDIQ, that is pre-negotiated, and approved means that the DSCA estimate ends up being closer to the actual contracted cost when compared to them essentially guessing what the user specific request may cost once negotiations get underway.
See
this. The IDIQ contract is has a 5 year term, a max buy capacity of 180 (@ a rate not to exceed 36 aircraft a year) and a cost ceiling of $7.4 Billion.
In an effort to field MQ-9 Reapers faster and meet an increasing operational demand for the aircraft, the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s MQ-9 Program Office awarded a $7.4 billion ceiling Agile Reaper Enterprise Solution (ARES) contract to General Atomics Sept. 17.
The MQ-9 is an unmanned aircraft with intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and strike capabilities, and is one of the most in demand weapons systems in the U.S. Air Force.
ARES, a five year fixed indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract, developed by the MQ-9 Program Office, will stabilize costs, allow for the procurement of up to 36 aircraft per year in the same appropriation year, and reduce the time it takes to deliver the aircraft to operational units by approximately 35%.
ARES is flexible and it has streamlined the traditional contract award process.
ARES has a pre-negotiated $3.3 billion price-quantity-curve. This curve allows the Air Force and foreign military sales partners to unilaterally order between 4-36 aircraft in a single year.
Foreign Military Sales partners will be allowed to procure the Dash 21 variant, which is the NATO exportable version of the MQ-9A.
The contract contains pre-priced Mobile Ground Control Stations, Ground Data Terminal, spares, and support equipment. This pre-priced contract allows the MQ-9 Program Office to go through the complete contract clearance process only once.
“Prior to ARES, the standard contract award timeline was roughly 380 days,” said Alicia Morales, aircraft production manager with the Medium Altitude Unmanned Aerial System (MAUAS) Program Office, who was instrumental in developing ARES. “Now, once we have a budget, and it’s in our account, we can award in just a couple of days and field the aircraft in 26 months.”
In addition to fielding MQ-9’s faster, ARES brings a level of certainty to the MQ-9 Program.