US President-elect Donald Trump said the cost of F-35 stealth fighter jet is "out of control."
Highlights
- Lockheed Martin termed the planes as 'great value' for the United States.
- Trump labelled the cost of the F-35 fighter aircraft as 'out of control'.
- The US aerospace company has a $1.5-trillion contract through 2070.
Lockheed Martin vowed on Monday to answer US President-elect Donald Trump's questions about the cost of the F-35 stealth fighter, calling the planes "great value" for the United States.
"It's an amazing programme," Jeff Babione, Lockheed's programme manager for the F-35s, told journalists in Israel where two of the planes were due to land.
"It's great value and I look forward to any questions that the President-elect may have."
Mr Babione was responding to Mr Trump's labelling of the cost of the aircraft as "out of control".
The US aerospace company has a $1.5-trillion contract through 2070 for the latest generation of the fighter jets, at a cost of about $100 million each.
"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," Mr Trump said on Twitter, referring to the date he takes office.
His tweet coincided with Defence Secretary Ash Carter's visit to Israel to celebrate delivery of the country's first two F-35s, although they were delayed by bad weather.
The aircraft had been scheduled to land at 2 pm local time (12:00 GMT) but were now expected at around 7:30 pm (1730 GMT).