Originally Posted by
Turbine D
ORAC,
It seems to me Trump is dabbling in areas he shouldn't be dabbling in. With Trump, it is impossible from one hour to the next, one day to the next to determine what his motivations are. Is this pronouncement because an executive of Lockheed-Martin and former Navy SEAL turned him down on the National Security Advisor post, a bit of revenge, perhaps? First he attacks Boeing, the new Air Force One 747 aircraft cost way too much, then he visits Boeing's South Carolina plant and just raves over what a great company it is and the great people that work at Boeing.
While this kind of off the wall crap may have worked sometimes for him in the NYC real estate venue and is part of his "deal book," we are talking here about significant military technology procurements for which he knows little about. It is why we have a Department of Defense stuffed full of experts in this field. The Secretary of Defense has said he is reviewing the F-35 situation, but he hasn't come to any conclusions yet. Sometime when Trump gets a moment and stops the victory touring and campaigning for reelection in 2020, maybe he might visit the Pentagon and see what does go on inside the building. Trump is still the one man band running "Trump, Inc., NYC" instead of letting the people he has selected for his cabinet do their jobs...
Let's not forget that an uninformed businessman informed the (very unhappy) Air Force that they would have to use the F-4 Phantom - an aircraft they ended up loving, championed the design and introduction of the F-111, and introduced the now ubiquitous concept of true multi-role combat aircraft. I am of course referring to Robert McNamara.
I will however admit that if he runs into an F/A-18 QFI who tells him that the Shornet is amazing and the F-35 is terrible, he is liable to base a procurement decision on such heresay.