For Release: October 26, 2001
Contact: David Gillies: 202-225-5661

COSTELLO DISAPPOINTED BY JOINT STRIKE FIGHTER DECISION

Washington - U.S. Congressman Jerry Costello (D-IL) today expressed disappointment that the Department of Defense selected Lockheed Martin instead of Boeing to be the lead contractor on the Joint Strike Fighter project. The contract to build the next generation fighter for all of the military services is estimated to be worth hundreds of billions of dollars and could result in only one company producing fighter jets in the future.

"Obviously, this is not a good result for the Bi-State area. Given the variety of threats our country faces and the state of the economy, it does not make sense to me to have only one company making fighters. We need to maintain a strong defense industrial base. I would have preferred to see the contract divided between the two firms, and I believe that Boeing's expertise in design, development and production should be utilized on this project. I will continue to work with the Illinois and Missouri Congressional delegations on this matter," stated Costello, who wrote to the Secretary of Defense concerning this issue.

###