Secretary of Defense James “Mad Dog” Mattis spent his first day at the Pentagon presiding over 31 airstrikes against
ISIS.
Today, day eight, he has ordered an assessment of the pricey F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program.
President Trump has made it clear he wants prices to drop.
From Daily Caller:
Mattis’s Friday memorandum directed the deputy secretary of defense to conduct a review of the F-35 program in order to determine if there are any opportunities to reduce cost. Additionally, the deputy secretary will engage in a parallel assessment comparing the F-35C and the F/A-18E/F capabilities in order to determine if the F/A-18E/F can be improved to provide a “competitive, cost effective, fighter aircraft alternative.” Mattis ordered the review to be conducted immediately so that its results can be used to make future budget decisions. Mattis also issued a separate memo which will review costs associated with a program to revamp presidential aircraft.
…
“The purpose of these reviews is to inform programmatic and budgetary decisions, recognizing the critical importance of each of these acquisition programs,” said the statement. “This is a prudent step to incorporate additional information into the budget preparation process and to inform the secretary’s recommendations to the president regarding critical military capabilities.”
…The first lot of F-35s cost approximately $279 million a piece, though the cost per unit lowered to $102 million in the most recent order placed Nov. 2, 2016. By comparison, an F/A-18E/F Super Hornet had a unit cost of $70.5 million in 2013.
Lockheed Martin’s stock dipped 1.47 points after this news was released.
You’ll recall that Trump berated Lockheed Martin on Twitter back in December, which also caused their stocks to fall.
The bottom line is that the Trump administration wants to save money where it can in order to build up our depleted armed forces.
H/T Young Cons
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