Donald Trump's Tweet Sets Up Jet Dogfight--2nd Update
December 22 2016 - 7:35PM
Dow Jones News
By Doug Cameron and Damian Paletta
President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday continued his pressure
on the defense sector by suggesting he could use a Boeing Co. plane
as a substitute for the Lockheed Martin Corp. F-35 combat jet.
"Based on the tremendous cost and cost overruns of the Lockheed
Martin F-35, I have asked Boeing to price-out a comparable F/A-18
Super Hornet!" he said in a tweet, referring to a Boeing plane that
has long been used by the Navy and some overseas allies.
The Pentagon plans to acquire more than 2,400 of the F-35 jets
to replace much of its combat fleet in what is by far its costliest
program, and Mr. Trump has singled it out for criticism after a
legacy of delays and design problems.
It is unusual for a president or a president-elect to publicly
negotiate government procurement spending on weapons programs. Mr.
Trump's approach of negotiating via Twitter has shaken defense
contractors and the complex defense bidding and procurement
process. He has said he sees it as his job to try to save taxpayers
money, but defense experts have said he is tackling a process that
can't be orchestrated in 140-character social media posts.
Daniel Gordon, who worked on government procurement issues for
the Government Accountability Office for 17 years before becoming
President Barack Obama's administrator for federal procurement
policy, said Mr. Trump cannot award government contracts without
going through the formal competition and bidding process.
"The government would be violating the law to award a contract
to Boeing without a competition [bidding process] unless they go
through exceptions to the normal legal requirements for
competition," Mr. Gordon said, adding that this process would
likely not qualify for any of the exceptions.
Pentagon officials have long said the two planes served very
different roles, with the F-35 providing more radar-evading
features and serving as an airborne command post. Variants of the
F/A-18 are used as attack jets and to provide electronic
countermeasures to protect U.S. forces.
Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, the military head of the F-35
program, said this week that the capabilities of the F-35 couldn't
be diluted.
Lockheed shares fell 2% in after-hours trade, with Boeing up
around 0.7%. The F-35 accounts for more than 20% of Lockheed's
annual sales. Mr. Trump met the chief executives of both companies
on Wednesday.
The two jets have faced off to win contracts for overseas
governments, with the F-35 prevailing in most of them.
However, Canada last month said it would order the Boeing jets
after the government dropped plans launched by the previous
administration to buy the F-35. The Lockheed plane will still be
considered in a future contest to acquire more jets.
Boeing has long pressed the Navy to buy more F/A-18s.
"We have committed to working with the president-elect and his
administration to provide the best capability, deliverability and
affordability across all Boeing products and services to meet our
national security needs," the company said in a statement.
Lockheed Martin declined to comment and Pentagon officials
didn't immediately respond to a request
The F-35 entered service with the Marine Corp. in 2015 and with
the Air Force earlier this year.
The Pentagon said the average cost of the model used by the Air
Force has fallen to $102 million, though some budget watchdogs said
this excludes some expenses such as fixing past design problems.
Defense analysts estimate the F/A-18 costs $70 million to $80
million.
Write to Doug Cameron at doug.cameron@wsj.com and Damian Paletta
at damian.paletta@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 22, 2016 19:20 ET (00:20 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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