By COLIN CLARK and SYDNEY J. FREEDBERG JR.
WASHINGTON: President-elect Donald Trump said more than 144 characters about the F-35 program today at his first press conference since being elected president, and Lockheed Martin appeared to have had little reason to be happy. But there are other interpretations that can be offered of his comments. This is what Trump said:
“I’m very much involved with the generals and admirals on the airplane, the F-35, you’ve been reading about it. And it’s way, way behind schedule and many, many billions of dollars over budget. I don’t like that. And the admirals have been fantastic, the generals have been fantastic. I’ve really gotten to know them well,” Trump said in his usual disjointed fashion. “And we’re going to do some big things on the F-35 program, and perhaps the F-18 program. And we’re going to get those costs way down and we’re going to get the plane to be even better. And we’re going to have some competition and it’s going to be a beautiful thing.”
So, first you get the F-35 is way behind schedule — true — and “many, many billions of dollars over budget” — true. Then you get this comment about doing “big things” on the F-35. And he throws in mention of the F-18. Now any reasonable and rational person who doesn’t work for Boeing knows that the F-35 is a much superior aircraft for the next 30 years — just ask the pilots who have flown both. This seems to fit with Trump’s penchant for making lots of often confusing and sensational noise while negotiating a deal, something he glories in detailing in his best-seller, the ghost-written Art of the Deal:
“I aim very high, and then I just keep pushing and pushing to get what I’m after. Sometimes I settle for less than I sought, but in most cases I still end up with what I want,”Trump says in the book.
Read the full story at Breaking Defense