TIL Desk/World/Washington-US President-elect Donald Trump has met with some of the US military’s top brass to discuss ways of reducing costs, particularly for the F-35 stealth fighter programme. The meeting at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida came after Trump last week blasted the F-35’s costs as “out of control” in a message on Twitter.
Several three- and four-star generals and admirals attended the meeting, including the F-35 program chief Lieutenant General Christopher Bogdan. “Trying to bring costs down,” Trump said when asked what the meeting was about. “Primarily the F-35, trying to get the costs down. A program that is very, very expensive.”
With a current development and acquisition price tag of USD 379 billion for a total of 2,443 F-35 aircraft — most of them destined for the Air Force — the Lockheed Martin-built plane is the most expensive in history, and costs are set to go higher still.
Once servicing, maintenance and other costs for the F-35 are factored in over the aircraft’s lifespan through 2070, overall program costs have been projected to rise to as much as USD 1.5 trillion. Trump has frequently turned to Twitter to vent his outrage across a range of topics.
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