After meeting with President-elect Donald Trump on Friday, Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson said the company is close to a deal to bring down the cost of its F-35 aircraft, and will also be adding 1,800 jobs to its Fort Worth plant.
"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 in Trump Tower.
Trump has been critical of the company recently, saying last month on Twitter that the F-35 program’s costs were “out of control.” He also said he was asking Boeing if it could offer a less expensive alternative.
“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,” Hewson said.
She then briefly discussed plans for adding jobs to the company’s Fort Worth, Texas facility where the F-35 is being built.
“In fact we are going to increase our jobs in Fort Worth by 1,800 jobs and when you think about the supply chain across 45 states in the U.S. it’s going to be thousands and thousands of jobs,” Hewson said. “And I also had the opportunity to give him some ideas on things we think we can do to continue to drive the cost down on the F-35 program, so it was a great meeting.”