President-elect Donald Trump doubled down Wednesday on his promise to decrease costs of the F-35 program and signaled that he still intends to consider buying more F/A-18 Super Hornets.
“We’re going to do some big things on the F-35 program and perhaps the F-18 program,” Trump said during a press conference. “It’s going to be a beautiful thing.”
He promised to get costs “way down” and to improve upon the plane, and praised generals and admirals who have been “fantastic” in meetings with him about the F-35 joint strike fighter, built by Lockheed Martin.
The F-35 is the most expensive acquisition program ever undertaken by the Pentagon. It has suffered repeated delays and is significantly over budget. Most recently, the Pentagon told Congress this week that the program will face an additional delay of seven months, costing taxpayers at least $500 million.
Lockheed Martin’s CEO Marillyn Hewson gave Trump her “personal commitment” that she would work to better control costs of the plane when they met last year, but Navy Secretary Ray Mabus told reporters on Wednesday that that may be the “easiest promise anyone has ever made,” since costs are already decreasing and will naturally decrease more as more planes are built.
Trump has announced before on Twitter that he asked Boeing to price out a Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet that is comparable to the F-35. But Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said last week that comparing the two jets is “a little bit like apples and oranges.”
In the minutes following Trump’s comments, Lockheed Martin’s stock slid from just under $256 per share to under $251.
