The US-President elect Donald Trump has held meetings with the heads of two aerospace organizations who lost millions in shares when he condemned their projects for being excessively costly. The meeting included F-35 program boss Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, Marillyn Hewson, President of Lockheed Martin, which makes the F-35 fighter jet, and Dennis Muilenburg, head of Boeing, which has an agreement to construct two new Air Force One planes
According to Independent, Mr. Trump told correspondents the concentration of his meetings had been to attempt and decrease the expenses of the projects most especially the F-35. President-elect Trump said the F-35 program is extremely costly and out of control. On his meeting with Boeing's Muilenburg, Trump declared his belief and hope towards cutting a colossal measure of cash off the [Air Force One] program.
Marillyn Hewson, CEO and President of Lockheed Martin Corporation after the meeting with the president, admitted to having a productive meeting with the President-elect Donald Trump. She also expressed her appreciation for being part of the discussion panel on the important national security projects as the F-35 program, its importance and the progress in lowering the costs.
Reported by Political, Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20th next year, has vowed to address government procurement costs as part of his industrial policy. This includes taking a hard line on Chinese trade practices and renegotiating multilateral trade deals.
Analysts said that while the Air Force had budgeted $2.7 billion for the Air Force One program, the costs would likely grow to about $4 billion after the planes were actually manufactured. The planes are expected to be operational by the mid-2020s
Lockheed and the Pentagon announced the "Blueprint for Affordability" effort in 2014 aimed at driving down the costs of the F-35 to $85 million per jet by the end of 2019 meaning achieving strong security at an affordable cost.
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