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Trump attacks F-35 maker for 'out of control' costs
Here we go again. Donald Trump has tweeted another critique about a major defense company -- and the stock immediately fell. Trump tweeted Monday morning 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." Shares of Lockheed Martin (LMT), which makes the F-35 fighting jets, plunged 4% following Trump's tweet. (money.cnn.com) More...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
Well...he's not wrong! lol
Its called being accountable. Nothing wrong with that.
That should have happened over 10 yrs ago
Mad truth. One Marine Corps F-35B costs taxpayers $251 million. A lone Navy F-35C costs all of us (those who work and pay federal taxes, that is) $337 million. Obama's pentagon wants to buy 400 of these over-priced, gee-whiz jets over the next 5 year. All the fighter pilots with whom I've spoken say the F-35 is the equivalent of the 1980s DeLorean...swoopy, faddish and sharp-looking, but it doesn't do much more than what's we're already flying in our current inventory.
Wondering how many of you have worked as DoD contractors? LMT doesn't make up the requirements, the customer does. DoD projects are legendary for audit heavy micromanagement. And honestly, taking something this complicated to production is a huge undertaking. The airplane is only the most visible component. Trump is welcome to his opinion, but he doesn't understand the complete exercise. Not making excuses for the F35 as an airplane (which of course, I have zero experience), but I do have extensive first hand experience w/making products for DoD and they are a difficult customer.
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These competitions happen, but there are limits. The result is rarely a flyable aircraft (or other demonstration hardware). Frequently these awards are based on a response which outlines what would be purchased and how it might be built and managed. For systems w/long service lives, the support contracts come up for rebid at regular intervals, so winning the initial award not always a lifetime ride. The CPFF (Cost Plus Fixed Fee) model seems like a comfortable ride, but those projects come w/a huge administrative overhead that (IMO) eat up any savings that might have been realized. I manage my time in 15 minute increments (by project) and chargeback test equipment usage (also on 15 minute increments). At small companies, we literally hold our breath until the milestones are met and the check arrives. Since the profit is "fixed" there is never an opportunity to amass enough capital to expand, everything is on credit and payday to payday. OTOH, we knew the game before we started. HTH.