President-elect Trump’s push to lower the cost of the expensive F-35 Joint Strike Fighter was heard “loud and clear” by the CEO of Lockheed Martin, the program’s primary contractor.
“I had a very good conversation with President-elect Trump this afternoon and assured him that I’ve heard his message loud and clear about reducing the cost of the F-35, said CEO Marillyn Hewson in a statement Friday.
Hewson said she gave Trump her “personal commitment” to drive the cost down “aggressively.”
“I know that President-elect Trump wants the very best capability for our military at the lowest cost for taxpayers, and we’re ready to deliver!”, she concluded.
LM CEO just had a good conversation with @RealDonaldTrump… she personally committed to drive down the cost of the F-35! pic.twitter.com/K2aK7pW07f
— Lockheed Martin (@LockheedMartin) December 23, 2016
The F-35 program is the Pentagon’s largest and most expensive project in its history, costing an estimated $400 billion over 22 years, and has experienced delays which could lead to cost overruns.
Trump tweeted last week that the cost of the F-35 program was “out of control” and warned that the military will save billions of dollars once he takes office on Jan. 20.
Trump then met with Hewson and Pentagon officials to discuss “trying to bring costs down — costs.” He told reporters last week that the talks focused primarily on the “very, very expensive” F-35. Another tweet from the president-elect later that day that the “tremendous cost and cost overruns” over Lockheed Martin’s F-35 program led him to ask Boeing to “price-out” a comparable F-18 Super Hornet.”
The tweet was followed by a dive in Lockheed Martin’s stocks.
