On Friday, Lockheed Martin Chief Executive Marillyn Hewson told reporters the Bethesda-based defense giant is close to a new contract deal that would cut the cost of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program and also create jobs. Hewson also said Lockheed Martin would create 1,800 new jobs related to the program in Fort Worth as part of the new contract deal. Lockheed Martin estimates the program accounts for 38,900 jobs in Texas, and the plane's supply chain touches 45 states. Voices on both sides of the political aisle have criticized the F-35 program's cost long before Trump took up the issue. "Many of our allies have bet their air superiority on the F-35 program, and it bonds us tightly together with them," he said during a hearing on his nomination last week.

Source: Los Angeles Times January 15, 2017 15:01 UTC