(Corrects to say Pratt & Whitney is a subsidiary of UnitedTechnologies, not a privately held company)
WASHINGTON, Dec 12 (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect DonaldTrump took aim at another major defense contractor on Monday,saying the cost of Lockheed Martin's F-35 fighter jet programwas too high.
The aerospace giant's shares dropped about 4 percent inearly trading after Trump's tweet, while shares of several otherdefense contractors also weakened.
"The F-35 program and cost is out of control," Trump said onTwitter. "Billions of dollars can and will be saved on military(and other) purchases after January 20th."
Jeff Babione, Lockheed Martin's F-35 program leader,responded by saying the company understands concerns aboutaffordability and has invested millions of dollars to reduce thejet's price.
A week before Trump won the Nov. 8 presidential election,the U.S. Defense Department and Lockheed Martin concluded negotiations on their ninth contract for 90 F-35fighter jets after 14 months of negotiations on the deal, thePentagon said.
Lockheed won the contract, valued at up to $7.18 billion, inlate November and has received an interim payment.
Trump campaigned on a promise to cut waste in federalgovernment.
Last week, he also used Twitter to target Boeing Co for its "out of control" costs on a new fleet of Air Force Oneplanes, urging the federal government to "Cancel order!"
Lockheed and its key partners, Northrop Grumman Corp, Pratt & Whitney and BAE Systems, aredeveloping and building three variants of the F-35s for the U.S.military and 10 allies including Britain, Australia, Norway,Denmark, the Netherlands, Italy, Turkey, Israel, Japan and SouthKorea.
After Trump's Monday morning tweet, shares of NorthropGrumman Corp were 2.3 percent lower and shares of Pratt& Whitney's parent company, United Technologies Corp,were off less than 1 percent in premarket trade. Shares of BAESystems were nearly one percent lower in London.
Earlier this month, the Pentagon's chief arms buyer said hewas hopeful that Lockheed F-35 block buy will proceed. (Reporting by Doina Chiacu and Susan Heavey; Editing by AldenBentley and Bill Trott)