Part of the United States’ military might stems from its air force. Made up of all manner of air craft, the United States Air Force is set to handle any situation in which they take part.
Part of that is the new F-35 fighter jet.
But the project has been dealing with money problems, and President Donald Trump believes he’s gotten it back on the right financial track.
While speaking at CentCom, the United States Central Command center at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, President Trump noted the following about military spending, that "I have already saved more than $700 million when I got involved in the negotiation on the F-35."
PolitiFact Florida heard the claim and gave it a MOSTLY FALSE rating on the Truth-O-Meter.
Writer Josh Gillin said, at the beginning of February, Lockheed Martin announced they were saving $728 million on the program. President Trump took credit for that and, based on the research, he had little to do with the announcement.
“Lockheed Martin actually did give him some credit for being in to negotiations, as well, and you know, so he starts to make this claim,” Gillin Said. “But what we found out when we really dug into it was a lot of these things had been negotiated before he took office, and most of the savings are actually from efficiency that comes with just building more and more of these jets as the orders process.”
For that reason, President Trump’s statement received a MOSTLY FALSE rating.
SOURCES: Trump says millions saved on new fighter jet program
- Donald Trump’s twitter, Dec. 12 and Dec. 22, 2016
- U.S. Department of Defense, "Agreement Reached on Lowest Priced F-35s in Program History," Feb. 3, 2017
- Lockheed Martin, Statement on F-35 LRIP 10 Agreement, Feb. 3, 2017
- Department of Defense, Selected Acquisition Report F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Aircraft, 2014
- The Arizona Republic, "F-35 behind schedule, over budget," Feb. 15, 2014
- FlightGlobal, "New report shows slow, steady unit cost drop for F-35," March 23, 2015
- Hugh Hewitt, "Donald Trump On Today’s Benghazi Hearing and State of the 2016 Race," Oct. 22, 2015
- Military.com, "F-35 Cost May Drop to $85 Million by 2019," March 16, 2016
- Fort Worth Star-Telegram, "Lockheed Martin talks F-35 with Trump transition team," Nov. 10, 2016
- Business Insider, "Here’s the price tag for the latest batch of F-35s," Dec. 20, 2016
- Business Insider, "F-35 chief: 'This program is not out of control,'" Dec. 20, 2016
- Politico, "Trump convenes Pentagon brass 'to bring costs down,'" Dec. 21, 2016
- Charlotte Observer, "After meeting Donald Trump, Lockheed CEO says 1,800 jobs will come to Fort Worth," Jan. 13, 2017
- The Strategist, "Trump and the F-35: the $600 million question," Feb. 1, 2017
- Washington Post, "Trump suggests he would ditch F-35 in favor of cheaper plane," Dec. 22, 2016
- Washington Post, "Trump says Lockheed Martin has cut $600 million from F-35 program," Jan. 30, 2017
- Washington Post The Fact Checker, "Trump’s claim taking credit for cutting $600 million from the F-35 program," Jan. 31, 2017
- Orlando Sentinel, "Pentagon chief orders reviews of F-35 fighter," Air Force One, Jan. 28
- Washington Post, "$728 million cut in contract for next 'lot' of F-35 jets," Feb. 5, 2017
- PolitiFact Florida, "Marco Rubio says the United States isn't building aircraft, bombers, nuclear subs," May 5, 2015
- PolitiFact, "Fact-checking Donald Trump's tweet on Air Force One, Boeing," Dec. 6, 2016
- Interview, Todd Harrison, director of the Aerospace Security Project and the director of Defense Budget Analysis at Center for Strategic and International Studies, Feb. 7, 2017
- Interview, Steve Ellis, Taxpayers for Common Sense vice president, Feb. 7, 2017
- Interview, Ben Friedman, Cato Institute research fellow in defense and homeland security studies, Feb. 7, 2017