‘Fake news’: Lockheed Martin slams report that Trump will scrap F-35s over company’s DEI
Fort Worth’s Lockheed Martin is disputing a report that President-elect Donald Trump told a top company official he plans to cancel an F-35 contract.
Lydia Moynihan, a financial correspondent for the New York Post, posted on X on Dec. 11 that Trump told Lockheed CEO Jim Taiclet he was planning to do away with a recent contract for the jets that are built in Fort Worth.
“Overheard: Trump told Lockheed CEO Jim Taiclet that he plans to cancel the $1T F-35 contract that was struck last month,” the post on X reads. “’China is winning the fighter race while Lockheed sends executives to DEI camps,’ a source close to Trump said of the decision.”
The post had 681,000 views as of Thursday afternoon. Lockheed Martin was quick to respond, denying the claim in posts on X.
“This is false reporting and fake news,” the company said.
Reached by the Star-Telegram, a Lockheed spokesperson said the company did not have further comment. Asked about the $1 trillion contract referenced in the original post, the spokesperson said there isn’t one. The 2024 Defense Department budget was $824 billion.
A spokesperson for Trump did not immediately return a request for comment. Moynihan and the New York Post also did not immediately return emails seeking comment.
Lockheed builds the F-35 for the U.S. military and its allies.
Reports were released in late November that a handshake deal had been reached between the company and the Pentagon to build more F-35s. Lockheed confirmed the initial agreement in a Nov. 21 statement. Lockheed said it would “share the aircraft quantity and cost figures when a final agreement is signed.”
The social media post from the New York Post reporter and Lockheed’s rebuttal comes after Elon Musk criticized the F-35 program.
Among the posts on X in late November, Musk called the F-35 program “the worst military value for money in history” and the F-35 “an expensive & complex jack of all trades, master of none.” Musk also posted a video appearing to show a large group of Chinese drones, captioning the post, “Meanwhile, some idiots are still building manned fighter jets like the F-35.”
Musk and fellow billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy will lead the Department of Government Efficiency that will recommend federal spending cuts to Trump.
Diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives have become a target of Republican lawmakers in recent years. For instance in Texas, lawmakers in Austin in 2023 passed a law limiting DEI initiatives at public universities and colleges.
Lockheed Martin’s website includes a section dedicated to diversity and inclusion.
“From the CEO down, we are actively committed to promoting diversity and inclusion throughout our corporation” the page reads. Near the top page, the site reads, “Diversity and inclusion are the foundation of our culture, and reflect our values of doing what’s right, respecting others and performing with excellence.”
This story was originally published December 12, 2024 at 2:19 PM.
