U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal spoke to the choir Friday, pumping up support for the F-35 fighter jet before aerospace workers who make engine components for the aircraft targeted recently by President Trump.
The Connecticut Democrat, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, visited Colonial Spring Co., a Bristol supplier of the United Technologies Corp. jet engine maker Pratt & Whitney. He thanked the company and its employees for their work while also taking a few jabs at Trump.
“If he wants to take credit for it, fine,” Blumenthal said, referring to the Republican president. “As long as they keep buying it.”
“Agreed,” Colonial Spring President William J. Lathrop added.
Twice in December, Trump tweeted that the cost of the plane, manufactured by Lockheed Martin Corp., is excessive. He suggested alternatives such as the F-18 Super Hornet, quickly drawing criticism from the state’s congressional delegation backing a critical and lucrative Connecticut industry.
Last month, Trump took credit for cutting about $600 million of the F-35 program’s cost. Lockheed Martin already planned cost reductions and Blumenthal told the gathering of about 15 workers that Congress has “always sought to lower the cost.” Lockheed Martin declared a “war on cost” before Trump’s election last November, he said.
The nearly $400 billion price tag for the F-35 makes it the Pentagon’s most expensive weapons acquisition ever. The program has strong bipartisan support in Congress, where lawmakers view the aircraft as essential to national security.
Blumenthal, the former Connecticut attorney general, told workers that before his election to the Senate in 2010, he knew “very little” about national defense or the F-35. “But I know a lot about them now,” he said.
Lathrop said in an interview he does not have a “strong concern” about threats of budget cuts affecting the F-35. “I think the government will continue to buy those planes.”
Aerospace comprises about 30 percent of Colonial Spring’s business with the rest in heating and cooling systems, other military work and general commercial business, he said. The privately held company, which does not report financial details, employs 22 workers.
Ed Grabowski, a veteran tool and die maker who was among the workers listening to Blumenthal, said employees are “very optimistic” about the aerospace industry.
“We’ve been very busy, especially in the last year,” said Grabowski, 69.
In addition to the engine for the F-35, Pratt & Whitney is working through thousands of orders for its next-generation commercial jet engines.
Lathrop said he quickly agreed to Blumenthal’s request to talk up the F-35 jet, providing the perspective of a congressional supporter.
“I wanted every employee to hear that,” he said.
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