Trump Pushes Lockheed to Cut F-35 Costs by Asking Boeing to Develop a Comparable Jet!

Newswire ^ | January 16, 2017 | Boris Djuric 

After meeting with the president-elect Donald Trump, Lockheed Martin CEO, Marillyn Hewson, promises to lower the costs of F-35 program as well as to create 1,800 new jobs.
This brings out the question how come cheaper F-35 program and thousands of new jobs weren’t suggested earlier? Also, a frequently asked question is whether developing the fifth generation F-35 “super jet”, which proved to be not that “super” after all, justified spending $trillions of taxpayer’s money?
According to Trump, this expense is unacceptable. The President-elect already promised a modernization of U.S. military, however, under certain conditions.
“The F-35 program and cost is out of control. Billions of dollars can and will be saved on military (and other) purchases after January 20th”, Trump promised in his tweet on December 12th.
On December 22nd, Trump tweeted that he asked Boeing, Lockheed Martin’s major competitor, to develop a F-18 Super Hornet which is comparable to F35.
In January, Lockheed Martin promised not only to reduce the costs of F-35 jets, but also to help “America be Great Again” by generating jobs for thousands of Americans.
“I certainly share his [Trump’s] views that we need to get the best capability to our men and women in uniform, and we have to get it at the lowest possible price,” Hewson told the reporters in the Trump Tower, after the meeting took place on Friday.
According to Lockheed Martin’s CEO, the company also plans to create 1,800 jobs at its plant in Fort Worth, Texas, where the F-35s are built.
The offer may appeal to the president-elect, however, Lockheed Martin needs to justify its $1.5 trillion spending on a jet that reportedly has some serious issues which are yet to be resolved until the mass production starts.
On December 19th, Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, Frank Kendall, informed Senator John McCain (R-Arizona), that development of the F-35’s software was being delayed for seven months, resulting in an escalated cost of “at least $500 million more than previously budgeted”.
Boeing may enter the ‘super-jet race’ and build a matching warplane, however, according to experts, this is highly unlikely, because there is no way the F-18 Hornet can be modified to counterpart the F-35. Accordingly, Boeing would have to create a whole new concept.
Nonetheless, Trump once again proved he knows how to negotiate a better deal, which may be just what America needs.