Mattis orders cost reviews of F-35 fighter, Air Force One
Published 1:30 am Friday, January 27, 2017
By Nafeesa Syeed
Bloomberg
Defense Secretary James Mattis has ordered reviews of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and plans for Boeing to build new Air Force One presidential aircraft, two high-profile contracting programs that President Donald Trump has singled out for criticism.
Mattis issued the reviews in order to “inform programmatic and budgetary decisions, recognizing the critical importance of each of these acquisition programs,” Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis said in a statement Friday. “This action is also consistent with the president’s guidance to provide the strongest and most efficient military possible for our nation’s defense.”
In December, Trump tweeted that F-35 costs are “out of control,” and this month he boasted of “the massive cost reductions I have negotiated on military purchases,” without identifying which projects he was referring to. Trump extracted general promises to cut costs on the F-35 and on the new Air Force One after meetings with the chief executive officers of the companies, which are the two biggest U.S. government contractors.
“We have been responsive in providing information to the Trump administration and we look forward to continuing that dialogue as this process moves forward,” Todd Blecher, a Boeing spokesman, said in a phone interview. A Lockheed representative didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a memorandum on the F-35, Mattis said the deputy secretary of defense will oversee the review to “determine opportunities to significantly reduce the cost” of the fighter jet, saying it should begin immediately.
He also ordered a study of whether Boeing’s older F/A-18 Super Hornet could be upgraded to provide a less costly alternative to the Lockheed fighter, a proposal defense analysts have said is probably unworkable given the different roles and capabilities of the two fighters.
The deputy defense secretary “will oversee a review that compares F-35C and F/A-18E/F operational capabilities and assesses the extent that F/A-18E/F improvements (an advanced Super Hornet) can be made in order to provide a competitive, cost effective, fighter aircraft alternative,” Mattis said in his directive.
The F-35 is the Pentagon’s costliest weapons program, at a projected cost of $379 billion, although defense officials under former President Barack Obama maintained that the program’s days of unending overruns and delays were past.
For Air Force One, Mattis said the review will identify how to “substantially reduce the program’s costs.”
Lockheed shares reversed gains, dropping 0.5 percent to $253.73 at 1:13 p.m. New York time. Boeing declined 0.8 percent to $167.83.
