President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday met with a team of military leaders, including Air Force leaders and acquisition officials. The team included Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Stephen Wilson, Air Mobility Command chief Gen. Carlton Everhart, F-35 program executive Lt. Gen. Chris Bogdan, and Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Deterrence Lt. Gen. Jack Weinstein, according to a pool report of the briefing released by Politico. Other military leaders included Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. William Moran, Missile Defense Agency Director Vice Adm. James Syring, Navy acquisition head Vice Adm. David Johnson, and Naval Sea Systems Command chief Vice Adm. Thomas Moore. Trump said after the meeting he was “trying to get costs down,” primarily of the F-35.
The Air Force overall reduced its size by 120 aircraft in fiscal year 2021, but kept about the same number of fighter, bomber and attack aircraft, according to data supplied by the service. The F-35 fleet saw the biggest increase while the B-1B bomber fleet saw the largest decline.