Issue Briefs
Trump Drives Down Price Of F-35 Fighter 25% From Obama Level
June 17th, 2019
By Loren Thompson
Media coverage of President Trump is so consistently negative that a casual observer might easily conclude he has accomplished nothing constructive during his time in the White House. But here is an example of a major spending program where the President pledged to save billions of dollars and proceeded to do precisely that through tough negotiating and relentless pressure.
The program in question is the F-35 fighter, by far the biggest weapons program currently being funded anywhere in the world. The Pentagon has developed three different versions of the F-35 to replace the Cold War tactical aircraft of the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. The plane is also being bought by a dozen allies.
The views and opinions expressed in this issue brief are those of the author.
 |
Loren B. Thompson is a Senior Adviser for GPI, Chief Operating Officer of the non-profit Lexington Institute and Chief Executive Officer of Source Associates, a for-profit consultancy. Prior to holding his present positions, he was Deputy Director of the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University and taught graduate-level courses in strategy, technology and media affairs at Georgetown. He has also taught at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. Mr. Thompson holds doctoral and masters degrees in government from Georgetown University and a bachelor of science degree in political science from Northeastern University. |