Newsdeck

Newsdeck

Trump meets military brass to discuss cutting F-35 costs

President-elect Donald Trump met Wednesday with some of the US military's top brass to discuss ways of reducing costs, particularly for the F-35 stealth fighter program. 

The meeting at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida came after Trump last week blasted the F-35’s costs as “out of control” in a message on Twitter.

Several three- and four-star generals and admirals attended the meeting, including the F-35 program chief Lieutenant General Christopher Bogdan.

“Trying to bring costs down,” Trump said when asked what the meeting was about. 

“Primarily the F-35, trying to get the costs down. A program that is very, very expensive.”

With a current development and acquisition price tag of $379 billion for a total of 2,443 F-35 aircraft — most of them destined for the Air Force — the Lockheed Martin-built plane is the most expensive in history, and costs are set to go higher still.

Once servicing, maintenance and other costs for the F-35 are factored in over the aircraft’s lifespan through 2070, overall program costs have been projected to rise to as much as $1.5 trillion.

Trump has frequently turned to Twitter to vent his outrage across a range of topics.

On December 6, he blasted Boeing over the possible $4 billion price tag for a replacement Air Force One presidential plane. He also called that project “out of control.”

Trump also met with Lockheed CEO Marillyn Hewson and Boeing chief Dennis Muilenburg.

Asked whether he had secured any concessions from Hewson, Trump said: “We’re just beginning, it’s a dance.”

“But we’re going to get the costs down and we’re going to get it done beautifully.”

Boeing’s Muilenburg told reporters the meeting with Trump went “great” and said Air Force One would be delivered for less than $4 billion.

“We’re going to get it done for less than that, and we’re committed to working together to make sure that happens,” Muilenburg said.

wat/acb

© 1994-2016 Agence France-Presse

Gallery

Please peer review 3 community comments before your comment can be posted

We would like our readers to start paying for Daily Maverick...

…but we are not going to force you to. Over 10 million users come to us each month for the news. We have not put it behind a paywall because the truth should not be a luxury.

Instead we ask our readers who can afford to contribute, even a small amount each month, to do so.

If you appreciate it and want to see us keep going then please consider contributing whatever you can.

Support Daily Maverick→
Payment options

Become a Maverick Insider

This could have been a paywall

On another site this would have been a paywall. Maverick Insider keeps our content free for all.

Become an Insider

Every seed of hope will one day sprout.

South African citizens throughout the country are standing up for our human rights. Stay informed, connected and inspired by our weekly FREE Maverick Citizen newsletter.