NEWS-02
its heels by the President-elect.>
largely invisible to fly. But today, it couldn`t avoid landing on Donald
Trump`s radar the President-elect on twitter, blasting the fighter jet
program`s costs as "Out of control," insisting "Billions of dollars can and
will be saved" that tweet taking its toll on the F-35`s prime contractor,
Lockheed Martin.>
(00:05:19): Another day, another tweet, and another American company knocked on its heels by the President-elect. This time it`s another about the price of a military program, specifically the cost of a fighter jet he says is out of control. NBC`s Peter Alexander has more.
(Begin VT)
PETER ALEXANDER (NBC News National Correspondent) (00:05:35): Known as the joint strike fighter, the F-35 has designed to be largely invisible to fly. But today, it couldn`t avoid landing on Donald Trump`s radar the President- elect on twitter, blasting the fighter jet program`s costs as "Out of control," insisting "Billions of dollars can and will be saved" that tweet taking its toll on the F-35`s prime contractor, Lockheed Martin. Its share price plummeting more than four percent, its market value briefly dropping four billion dollars. Trump`s fierce criticism came just as the Israeli air force received its first F-35`s delivered by Defense Secretary Ash Carter.
ASH CARTER (00:06:10): Israel is our first and only friend in the region that`s flying F-35.
PETER ALEXANDER (00:06:15): But dominating the skies doesn`t come cheap. The F-35 is the Pentagon`s most expensive weapons program with an estimated cost of nearly four hundred billion dollars. The company today said it`s worked aggressively to slash its price tag.
JEFF BABIONE (Lockheed Martin) (00:06:29): Lockheed Martin and its industry partners understand the importance of affordability for the F-35 program. And since the beginning we have invested hundreds of millions of dollars to reduce the price of the airplane.
PETER ALEXANDER (00:06:41): Just days after bashing Boeing for the cost of a new Air Force One, today`s tweet represents the latest example of Trump using his twitter feed as a negotiating tool.
(End VT)
PETER ALEXANDER (00:06:51): And there is late word tonight from the Trump transition team after the President-elect had promised that this week, he would outline how he`ll separate his own business interests from the country`s interests with a news conference that was supposed to happen Thursday. Well, that`s been abruptly postponed. Tonight a senior transition official tells me Trump`s announcement will not happen until next month, January, as well as that news conference that will be his first since the election. Lester, so far no explanation for the delay.
LESTER HOLT (00:07:20): Peter Alexander in Washington. Thank you.
END
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