Trump Asks Boeing for Price on GE-Powered F-18 Super Hornet to Compare with Lockheed-Pratt F-35, Delegation Scoffs at Idea

EAST HARTFORD, CT — President-Elect Donald Trump on Thursday threw another bag of coal under Pratt & Whitney's Christmas Tree with another Tweet lashing out at the Pratt-powered F-35 fighter jet. The state's congressional delegation promptly put him on the naughty list.

Trump Tweeted: "Based on the tremendous cost and cost overruns of the Lockheed Martin F-35, I have asked Boeing to price-out a comparable F-18 Super Hornet!"

It was a bigger slap at Pratt than a Dec. 12 Tweet that said, "The F-35 program and cost is out of control," Trump tweeted that day, "Billions of dollars can and will be saved on military (and other) purchases after January 20th." The F-35 engines are manufactured by East Hartford-based Pratt while the F-18 propulsion system is made by General Electric, now headquartered in Boston after bolting Connecticut.

According to the Defense Department's 2017 fiscal year budget, the federal government was to spend $10.1 billion for F-35s. That is 43 F-35As for the Air Force, 16 F-35Bs for the Marine Corps and four F-35Cs for the Navy, according to the government.

In July, Pratt, a United Technologies Corp. division, received a $1.5 billion contract from the Defense Department to build more F135 engines for the F-35 combat jet program. The deal will include a total of 99 engines as well as program management, engineering support, spare modules and spare parts.

In addition to Pratt itself being a large north central Connecticut employer, aerospace subcontractors are spread all over the area.

Pratt spokesman Bradley Akubuiro on Thursday night declined comment in Trump's Rhetoric.

U.S. Reps. Joe Courtney (D-2), John Larson (D-1) and Rosa DeLauro (D-3) issued a joint statement Friday responding to the recent comments by President-Elect Trump regarding the F-35, also known as the Joint Strike Fighter.

It reads:

"Any suggestion that there is a substitute for the F-35 is total non-starter. This is a program that has been vetted ad nauseum by the Pentagon, the Congress and independent experts. There is simply no aircraft in production today that can compare with the F-35’s advanced avionics, networked capabilities and integrated stealth.

"Many years of hard work by industry and our military leaders have gotten this program on track and on a path of declining costs. Rather than waste time and money interrupting our nation's upgrade to a 5th generation fighter, it's time to work together to find more savings and efficiencies for the American taxpayer."

Courtney is the Ranking Member of the House Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee. Larson is a co-chair of the bipartisan F-35 Caucus. DeLauro is a member of the House Appropriations Committee.

Photo Credit: Boeing