WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Trump's meeting with the CEOs of the aerospace and defense companies comes after he criticized contracts they have with the government in Twitter messages, ABC News said.
"We’re trying to get costs down, costs, primarily the F-35," Trump said following Wednesday’s meeting. "We’re trying to get the costs down. That program is very very expensive."
On December 6, Trump said he wanted to cancel an order for a new Air Force One because Boeing's $4 billion cost for the airplane and associated research and development program was "ridiculous." According to media reports the Air Force has budgeted $1.65 billion for the project.
Last week Trump called Lockheed Martin's F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Aircraft a disaster because of "out of control costs."