Boeing boss assures Trump Air Force One fleet to cost less than $4bn

Dennis Muilenburg, the chief executive officer of plane-maker Boeing, said on Wednesday that he had spoken with US president-elect Donald Trump in order to assure him that the new Air Force One Fleet would cost less than $4bn.

Trump has been critical of overspending on defence contracts, pointing out Boeing's costs as getting "out of control" in a tweet earlier this month.

On Wednesday he invited the bosses of Boeing and Lockheed Martin to a meeting at his Mar-A-Lago resort on Friday, alongside senior figures from the Pentagon, to discuss defence spending.

"We're going to get it done for less than that, and we're committed to working together to make sure that happens," Muilenburg told reporters after the meeting, according to Bloomberg.

Lockheed also faced criticism from the president-elect this month regarding its spending related to its F35 Joint Strike Fighter weapon system, which is reported to cost $379bn.

"We're trying to get costs down, costs," Trump said outside the resort after the meeting. "Primarily the F-35. That program is very, very expensive."

Lockheed CEO Marillyn Hewson said that the Florida meeting was "productive", but refused to give any commitments about previous deals with the administration.

"I had a productive meeting with President-elect Trump this afternoon," she said. "I appreciated the opportunity to discuss the importance of the F-35 program and the progress we've made in bringing the costs down.

"The F-35 is a critical program to our national security, and I conveyed our continued commitment to delivering an affordable aircraft to our U.S. military and our allies," she added.