President-elect suggests a Boeing plane could be used as substitute for Lockheed’s F-35 combat jet
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.
.. Mr. Trump cannot award government contracts without going through the formal competition and bidding process.
.. 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.
.. 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 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.