By COLIN CLARK
WASHINGTON: Lockheed CEO Marillyn Hewson is getting much more face time with the next president than she ever expected, all as part of a fascinating ballet as Donald Trump tries to force weapons costs down before he even gets sworn in.
“I just had a great meeting with President-elect Trump on the F-35 program. I share his view that we must deliver this critical capability for our men and women in uniform at the lowest possible cost to our taxpayers,”Hewson said in a statement after meeting Trump for the second time since the election.
Trump, in keeping with his always intriguing negotiating style, has threatened Lockheed Martin that he might replace the F-35 with a revamped F-18 Super Hornet made by that other defense company, Boeing. Then he came out with a much softer version of that idea, at the same promising “big things” for the program. A source with access to Trump told me today to expect similar behavior throughout Trump’s presidency. “It’s how he works,” the source said.
Read the full story at Breaking Defense