Donald Trump tweet causes F-35 maker’s shares to plunge

The President-elect said the cost of the plane – estimated at $100m (£79m) each after a series of delays and cost overruns – is too high.

Mr Trump, who tweeted as Defense Secretary Ash Carter was in Israel to deliver that country’s first two stealth fighters, did not go into detail about what action he would take.

But the comments caused stock issued by the makers Lockheed Martin to plunge 2.5% in pre-market trading.

It is also unclear what, if any, implications any policies regarding the F-35 could have for the UK Armed Forces, which have ordered more than 130 of the planes to equip Britain’s next generation of aircraft carriers.

Mr Trump wrote on his Twitter feed: “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.”

Responding to the criticism, Lockheed Martin’s Jeff Babione said the planes were “great value” for the United States.

“I look forward to any questions that the President-elect may have,” he added.

The F-35 programme is the Pentagon’s most expensive, with an estimated cost so far of nearly $400bn (£315bn).

But the US aerospace company has a $1.5tr (£1.18tr) contract through to 2070 for the latest generation of the fighter jets.

The US Air Force declared the fighter “battle ready” in August.

The UK is due to accept the plane, which will be called the Lightning II by British Armed Forces, on to the decks of the Royal Navy’s first incoming Queen Elizabeth Class carriers in 2018.

It will also be used by the RAF, which has taken delivery of its first two planes, although they are being kept at Eglin Air Force base in Florida while preparations are under way for training and testing.

In addition, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) says a number of British companies, including BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce are due to have a significant role in the construction and development of the aircraft. 

A briefing document to Parliament in February 2015 said the UK – which is the only tier one partner with the US in the fighter’s development – had spent £5bn on it up to that point.

In November of that year, then-Chancellor George Osborne said the UK would be ordering 24 F-35s to arrive by 2023, the first tranche of a total order of 138 Lightning IIs.

Just last week, a £27m contract was awarded to provide facilities and 300 jobs at RAF Marham in Norfolk to support the arrival of the F-35 in the UK – the first stage of a £250m programme of works, the MoD said. news.sky.com