BETHESDA (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. Department of Defense and Lockheed Martin Corp. are reportedly nearing a deal worth $9 billion for F-35 fighter planes.
President-elect Donald Trump had earlier heavily criticized the Pentagon for overspending on defense contracts. He had specifically noted the F-35 as an example on how Lockheed takes advantage of the defense budget. Trump even asked Boeing to explore pricing for an alternative to the costly fighter jet.
'The F-35 program and cost is out of control', Trump tweeted in December. 'Billions of dollars can and will be saved on military (and other) purchases after January 20th.'
'Based on the tremendous cost and cost overruns of the Lockheed Martin F-35, I have asked Boeing to price-out a comparable F-18 Super Hornet!' Trump tweeted.
The news of the new deal was first reported by Reuters. According to the report, the deal would lead to a drop in the price of each F-35 to below $100 million.
The DoD expects to spend $391 billion on the supersonic warplanes in the next few decades.
F-35, which was initially expected to enter full-scale production in 2008, has become the world's most expensive weapons project with estimated cost of about $379 billion.
The F-35 is a fifth-generation fighter jet that is designed to be largely invisible to radar, fly faster than the speed of sound and incorporate advanced sensors.
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