President Donald Trump says he managed to cut down the price of 90 Lockheed Martin F-35s be $600 million, using his White House advantage, US media reported. But despite the manufacturer’s reported surrender, the president is still asking Boeing to compete with their own stealth fighter.
Israel should pay close attention, seeing as it is one of Lockheed Martin’s biggest customers for the F-35s.
“I got involved in that about a month ago,” Trump small business owners in a White House meeting last Monday. “They were having a lot of difficulty, there was no movement,” he added, “I was able to get $600 million off of those planes.”
Doing the math, this would mean a $6.67 million cut for every F-35s in that particular contract, although it isn’t clear whether the president’s reported victory was real – Lockheed had already committed to cutting the cost of its F-35A down to between $80 and $85 million per aircraft by Fiscal 2019. The original price tag was more than $102 million when the Obama Administration was doing the shopping.
“I appreciate Lockheed martin for being responsive and that will be appreciated,” Trump says.
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. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2016
On December 12, 2016, Trump tweeted: “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.”
Based on the tremendous cost and cost overruns of the Lockheed Martin F-35, I have asked Boeing to price-out a comparable F-18 Super Hornet! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 22, 2016
Then, on December 22, Trump tweeted: “Based on the tremendous cost and cost overruns of the Lockheed Martin F-35, I have asked Boeing to price-out a comparable F-18 Super Hornet!”
Trump thanked Boeing for responding to his request for a competing bid, saying, “I appreciate Boeing for coming in and competing, and now they will be competing during the process for the rest of the planes because there are thousands of more airplanes coming.”
And the new president has promised to buy all those thousands of airplanes and much more military equipment without raising taxes!
In mid-January, Lockheed CEO Marillyn Hewson said the next bulk contract for F-35s will be much cheaper, reminding Americans that her company is already adding nearly 2,000 jobs as part of the F-35 program.
“I’m glad I had the opportunity to tell [Trump] that we are close to a deal that will bring the cost down significantly from the previous lot of aircraft to the next lot of aircraft and moreover it’s going to bring a lot of jobs to the United States,” Hewson told reporters.