Lockheed Martin shares fall after Trump tweets F-35 costs are 'out of control'

(Image credit: Kevin Moloney/Getty Images)

published 13 December 2016

Donald Trump is too busy to hold a scheduled press conference, but was able to carve some time out Monday morning to tweet out criticism of Lockheed Martin, whose shares ended up closing down 2.5 percent.

Trump tweeted that "the F-35 program and cost is out of control. Billions of dollars can and will be saved on military (and other) purchases after January 20th." He did not elaborate on how this money will be conserved. Lockheed Martin said there are three variations of the F-35 set to replace older fighter jets used by the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps, and the program's general manager, Jeff Babione, told reporters Monday the company "understands the importance of affordability, and that's what the F-35 has been about."

In March, the Government Accountability Office reported that as of December 2014, the total cost for the F-35 program, including research, development, and construction, was almost $340 billion. Last week, not long after the Chicago Tribune posted a story about Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg encouraging Trump to stop making anti-trade comments, Trump tweeted a claim that Boeing was "building a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents, but costs are out of control, more than $4 billion. Cancel order!"