Lockheed CEO says cost of F-35 will be cut after Trump meeting

[shockedcanadian]

Not even president and he has saved the country billions in tax dollars and thousands of jobs. You have to give credit where it is due, THESE are decisions that affect many peoples lives day to day.


Lockheed CEO says cost of F-35 will be cut after Trump meeting | New York Post

 

[Missouri_Mike]

So the government gravy train has finally reached it's destination and is backing up. I love it.

 

[frigidweirdo]

Not even president and he has saved the country billions in tax dollars and thousands of jobs. You have to give credit where it is due, THESE are decisions that affect many peoples lives day to day.


Lockheed CEO says cost of F-35 will be cut after Trump meeting | New York Post

Save the country billions, to be spent on what? he's not giving this back, he's going to spend it on nukes. Great.

And for what? You pay less for something, what do you get? You get LESS.

 

[Manonthestreet]

She has no choice.....yrs behind and keeps breaking and getting sidelined..........she better start kicking ass and firing people before Trump dumps it

 

[TheOldSchool]

Lockheed also had its fingers crossed as it said whatever it needed to so Trump would shut up and rubberstamp their funding

 

[candycorn]

Does anyone think that Lockheed is just going to take a bath on this?

 

[Missouri_Mike]

Not even president and he has saved the country billions in tax dollars and thousands of jobs. You have to give credit where it is due, THESE are decisions that affect many peoples lives day to day.


Lockheed CEO says cost of F-35 will be cut after Trump meeting | New York Post

Save the country billions, to be spent on what? he's not giving this back, he's going to spend it on nukes. Great.

And for what? You pay less for something, what do you get? You get LESS.

You do know there is an option to not spend it at all right? Has this even crossed your mind?

 

[Missouri_Mike]

Does anyone think that Lockheed is just going to take a bath on this?

Whoa, so it's Lockheed taking the bath? You do understand that giving them free reign on costs is the tax payers taking the bath right? Maybe we should expect a bit more from government contractors. Trump keeps showing you how it's done. Are you going to learn?

 

[EverCurious]

Actually it's fairly common practice for companies to raise prices in order to take advantage of government funds. The difference is Trump knows it and is going to put his foot down on it [where possible,] whereas politicians support it for a hopeful contribution now, or even in the "prior" run. Part of the "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" practice that's entrenched in our political system. You wanna see some serious political wheeling and dealing, look at the history of Alaskan politicians and the big three oil companies.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if we see the costs of work done through private companies come down on a lot of things.

 

[Darkwind]

Why would lockheed do this and admit to having overcharged the government billions of dollars? Something not right with this story.

for them to say we can cut costs to the program and save millions or billions is an admission that they have been defrauding the taxpayers for years. Think any lawyer at Lockheed is going to advise them to do that?

 

[Indeependent]

Why would lockheed do this and admit to having overcharged the government billions of dollars? Something not right with this story.

for them to say we can cut costs to the program and save millions or billions is an admission that they have been defrauding the taxpayers for years. Think any lawyer at Lockheed is going to advise them to do that?

Because Trump has already said several weeks ago that Lockheed was ripping off the Feds.

 

[EverCurious]

heh No company will "admit" what's going on, they'll make up some something that sounds good on paper - and in general 'we the people' don't pay enough attention to know whats 'really' going on. The common folk see that the cost went down for whatever project and that's the end of the story for them.

 

[Darkwind]

Why would lockheed do this and admit to having overcharged the government billions of dollars? Something not right with this story.

for them to say we can cut costs to the program and save millions or billions is an admission that they have been defrauding the taxpayers for years. Think any lawyer at Lockheed is going to advise them to do that?

Because Trump has already said several weeks ago that Lockheed was ripping off the Feds.

So what? As a lawyer, they wouldn't give a damn about what Trump or any President says when it comes to exposing their company to serious criminal charges.

 

[Hossfly]

This was in the news yesterday in Ft. Worth.


Lockheed Martin CEO says 1,800 new jobs coming to Fort Worth after Trump meeting


Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson met with President-elect Donald Trump in New York on Friday, and emerged from the meeting promising to reduce the costs of the company's signature fighter plane and to add 1,800 jobs at its Fort Worth facility.
That aircraft, the F-35, is a key economic driver in Fort Worth, and Trump has repeatedly threatened Lockheed's hold on the massive fighter plane program. Despite anxiety in North Texas over the plane's future in a Trump administration, Hewson said the Fort Worth plant was on track to add jobs.
"We had the opportunity to talk to him about the F-35 program and I certainly share his views that we need to get the best capability to our men and women in uniform and we have to get it at the lowest possible price," Hewson told reporters after the meeting, according to a pool report. "So I'm glad I had the opportunity to tell him that we are close to a deal that will bring the cost down significantly from the previous lot of aircraft to the next lot of aircraft and moreover it's going to bring a lot of jobs to the United States."

Lockheed Martin CEO says 1,800 new jobs coming to Fort Worth after Trump meeting | The Texas Tribune

 

[usmbguest5318]

What has Trump done? Nothing to write home about, as far as I can tell. Trump held a meeting with Lockheed's CEO who, in all likelihood unlike him and his Trumpkins, has read the several GAO DOD and reports on the F-35/F-35 II program and has simply shared the information in them with him. Trump's remarks and those of the news article cited in the OP are, as usuals, thin on details. The same cannot be said of the GAO/DOD reports.

• http://www.gao.gov/assets/680/676012.pdf
  
• http://www.gao.gov/assets/670/669619.pdf
  
• http://aviationweek.com/site-files/aviationweek.com/files/uploads/2016/01/DOT&E 2015 F-35 Annual Report.pdf

It is unlikely that Trump has done anything but read various editorials about the matter, and not in anything like a timely manner. Moreover, Trump's bluster about Boeing and the F/A 18 Super Hornet (FA 18 SH) is, at least for the Marines, that and that alone. There is no near term alternative to the F-35 that is slated for the Marines because there is no VTOL variant of the FA 18 SH. Another salient fact that is widely known and understood in military industrial circles is the operating cost of the F-35 runs at about half that of the F-22, is comparable in 2015 to that of 2012 F15s and is expected to decrease as time experience play a greater role in boosting O&M efficiency and effectiveness.

• GAO Urges More Cost Oversight On DOD's F-35 Upgrade
  
• F-35 Joint Program Office Statement on Two 2016 GAO Reports | F-35 Lightning II
  
• Metrics to Compare Aircraft Operating and Support Costs in the Department of Defense
  
• Where Is the Money Going? Affordability Still Escapes F-35 Program
• America's Lethal F-35 vs. F/A-18 Super Hornet: Who Wins?
  
• In his attempts to be seen as a cutter of bureaucratic waste, Trump has found an easy target in defense programs

Perhaps additional details will surface that indicate Trump and LM are doing anything that hasn't already been identified to do and that is underway. For now, I consider Trump's comments on the matter as nothing more than Trump's typical "smoke and mirrors" and self-aggrandizing ego onanism. After all, there are more facts cited and linked in this post than Trump has uttered in a month of Sundays.

 

[candycorn]

Does anyone think that Lockheed is just going to take a bath on this?

Whoa, so it's Lockheed taking the bath? You do understand that giving them free reign on costs is the tax payers taking the bath right? Maybe we should expect a bit more from government contractors. Trump keeps showing you how it's done. Are you going to learn?

First; all we have is conjecture at this point.
Second, the 1,800 jobs a defense contractor adds just means more tax money going to the defense contractor. Or are you going to now state that government does create jobs???
Thirdly, logic would dictate that if the price of the jet fighter is less, it will have lesser capability. The only thing we know for sure is that nobody named Trump will be anywhere near the plane when whatever safety component was scrapped to make him look politically better today costs someone's life tomorrow.

Of course, in the world of the right wing nut job, everything is an absolute position so you likely think I feel we should spend as much as possible or whatever... Such a thought is total garbage. So is thinking that there is a free lunch to be had; either it will be a lesser aircraft that is delivered in the end.

 

[Indeependent]

Why would lockheed do this and admit to having overcharged the government billions of dollars? Something not right with this story.

for them to say we can cut costs to the program and save millions or billions is an admission that they have been defrauding the taxpayers for years. Think any lawyer at Lockheed is going to advise them to do that?

Because Trump has already said several weeks ago that Lockheed was ripping off the Feds.

So what? As a lawyer, they wouldn't give a damn about what Trump or any President says when it comes to exposing their company to serious criminal charges.

Apparently, you are incorrect.

 

[jknowgood]

Not even president and he has saved the country billions in tax dollars and thousands of jobs. You have to give credit where it is due, THESE are decisions that affect many peoples lives day to day.


Lockheed CEO says cost of F-35 will be cut after Trump meeting | New York Post

Save the country billions, to be spent on what? he's not giving this back, he's going to spend it on nukes. Great.

And for what? You pay less for something, what do you get? You get LESS.

You do know there is an option to not spend it at all right? Has this even crossed your mind?

He is a liberal, they can't think like that.

 

[ThoughtCrimes]

Does anyone think that Lockheed is just going to take a bath on this?

Nobody that's been monitoring the military news believes that horseshit! Currently the Air Force F-35 is running ~$100M per copy and this fall was on target to drop due to a production ramped up economies of scale and lower end product R&D costs sometime later in 2017.

The F-35A for the Navy and the Marine F-35B now at around $112M and $116M respectively were to go into full production sometime in 2018 when the last of the R&D was complete and production was ramped up for those models.

Those cost reductions and the jobs increase for the ramp up were forecasted and in the news long before that blowhard buffoon Trump was even elected. He had jack shit to do with it. For him to take credit for what was already forecasted is typical Trump horseshit sundae fare for the gullible, low information Bots!

 

[rdean]

Saved the country billions? Saved thousands of jobs?

You guys really believe that?

Look at Carrier. Trump said he saved 1100 jobs, then it turned out it was 730 costing many millions. And now the CEO of Carrier said they are going to use the money to AUTOMATE. What dumb fucks. Truly stupid fucks. A smart negotiator wouldn't pay for their own destruction. Any deal Trump makes, with his history of scamming, bankruptcy and failure should have you very , very worried.