Trump to slash military spending after blasting 'out-of-control' costs

Trump to slash military spending after blasting 'out-of-control' costs
Billions of dollars worth of military spending will be saved once president-elect Donald Trump enters the White House, he vowed, after blasting 'out of control' costs.
3 min read
13 December, 2016
Donald Trump is expected to enter the White House on Jan 20 [AFP]

US President-elect Donald Trump said he would slash military spending once he enters the White House in January, after criticising the "out of control" cost of new US warplanes that arrived in Israel on Monday.

Trump took to Twitter to blast the US F-35 stealth fighter programme as the first two of 50 warplanes bought from aerospace giant Lockheed Martin arrived in Tel Aviv.

"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," Trump said, referring to his inauguration day.

Lockheed Martin's stock tumbled 4.3 percent shortly after the tweet, which prompted a response from the company.

With a current development and acquisition price tag of $379 billion for a total of 2,443 F-35 aircraft - most of them destined for the US Air Force - the plane is the most expensive in history.

Once servicing and maintenance costs are factored in over the aircraft's lifespan through 2070, overall programme costs are expected to soar to $1.5 trillion.

Speaking at the landing site in southern Israel, Jeff Babione, Lockheed's programme manager for the F-35s, told journalists the planes represented a good deal.

"It's great value and I look forward to any questions that the president-elect may have," he said.

The two planes came to a halt in front of the spectators, one on each side of the stage erected for speeches of welcome.

"The aircraft landing here will change the rules of the game," President Reuven Rivlin said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to Israel's air force as the state's long arm.

I want to tell the people of Israel today that this long arm today became longer, more powerful," he said.

"Anyone thinking of attacking us will be attacked," he added, in an apparent reference to arch-foe Iran. "Anyone thinking of destroying us places his own existence in danger."

The Trump attack and the delay in the fighters' arrival threatened to overshadow what Israel had labelled a key day in its military's future. 

While other countries have ordered the planes, Israel - which receives more than $3 billion a year in US defence aid - says it will be the first outside the United States with an operational F-35 squadron.

Carter said there was "no better symbol of the US commitment to Israel's security than the F-35, the most capable aircraft in the skies".

"Together we will dominate the skies," he said.

Israel is buying its first 33 F-35s at an average price of about $110 million (103.5 million euros) each.

Supersonic stealth

Among its main features are advanced stealth capabilities to help pilots evade sophisticated missile systems.

The single-pilot jets can carry an array of weapons and travel at a supersonic speed of Mach 1.6, or around 1,200 miles per hour (1,900 kilometres per hour).

The pilot's ultra-high-tech helmet, at a cost of some $400,000 each, includes its own operating system, with data that appears on the visor and is also shared elsewhere.

Thermal and night vision as well as 360-degree views are possible with cameras mounted on the plane.