BETHESDA (dpa-AFX) - President-elect Donald Trump met with the Chief Executives of defense contractors Boeing Co. (BA) and Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT) on Wednesday to discuss government contracts.
While Boeing is building the new Air Force One fleet, the official air plane for the U.S. President, Lockheed Martin has the contract for the F-35 fighter jet program.
Trump's meetings with the CEOs come just weeks after he criticized the two programs for their huge costs. The President-elect met separately with Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg and Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson at his Mar-a Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
Trump had asked the U.S. government to cancel the order with Boeing for the new Air Force One, saying its costs were more than $4 billion and out of control. He had also heavily criticized the rising costs of F-35 program.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office estimated the entire Air Force One program to cost about $3.2 billion from the 2010 through 2020 fiscal years, including $2 billion for research and development.
Boeing has so far received $170 million to design the new aircraft, which are not expected to be ready until 2024.
Meanwhile, the stealthy F-35 combat jets, which were 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.
After his meetings with the two CEOs on Wednesday, Trump said, 'We're just beginning - it's a dance. It's a little bit of a dance. But we're going to get the costs down and we're going to get it done beautifully.'
'We're going to get it done for less than that, and we're committed to working together to make sure that happens,' Muilenburg said, referring to the $4 billion price tag for the Air Force One contract.
'I appreciated the opportunity to discuss the importance of the F-35 program and the progress we've made in bringing the costs down. The F-35 is a critical program to our national security, and I conveyed our continued commitment to delivering an affordable aircraft to our U.S. military and our allies,' Hewson, the CEO of Lockheed Martin, stated.
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