Donald Trump knocks Lockheed's expensive F-35 Lighting II, but pricey programs have been axed before A little late on that assessment, unfortunately

Costly military programs that have been ditched in the 2000s

Shares of Lockheed Martin fell Monday, Dec. 12, 2016, after President-elect Donald Trump tweeted that making F-35 fighter planes is too costly and that he will cut "billions" in costs for military purchases. Since 2000, the various military branches have pitched and shuttered various projects that went over budget. Keep going to see which of those programs bit the bullet and how much they cost the taxpayer.

Source: Center for Strategic & International Studies (PDF) less Costly military programs that have been ditched in the 2000s

Shares of Lockheed Martin fell Monday, Dec. 12, 2016, after President-elect Donald Trump tweeted that making F-35 fighter planes is too costly and ... more Photo: Matthew Otero, STF Photo: Matthew Otero, STF Image 1 of / 27 Caption Close Donald Trump knocks Lockheed's expensive F-35 Lighting II, but pricey programs have been axed before 1 / 27 Back to Gallery

Monday, President-elect Donald Trump tweeted a few characters and caused a bit of hoopla for Lockheed Martin, the makers of the somewhat maligned F-35 Lightning II fighter jet.

"The F-35 program and cost is out of control," Trump wrote. "Billions of dollars can and will be saved on military (and other) purchases after January 20th."

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Trump's Twitter sentiment has been shared by officials for at least a decade when in 2006 when the Government Accountability Office caught wind of Lockheed Martin producing planes before design testing had been completed.

The more interesting part is what exactly our future president will do if he does nix the program. Currently, the plane has consumed nearly $400 billion due to engineering and design difficulties. Starting over from scratch is one idea, but that would also be incredibly expensive.

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"If we cancel it now, it'll take at least a decade and hundreds of billions of dollars more to develop a whole new set of fighter jets from scratch, judging by the last 50 years of aircraft development," Foxtrotalpha blogger Michael Ballaban wrote.

Chron.com has compiled a list of costly military projects that bit the bullet before they could be realized in the gallery above.