Major defense contractors prioritized diversity, equity, and inclusion while regularly missing deadlines related to a multitrillion-dollar aircraft modernization effort. Despite this, they received sizable bonuses designed to incentivize on-time delivery from the Biden administration.
Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney were the two primary contractors tasked with assisting the Defense Department in “fielding and modernizing” F-35 fighter jets. Aircraft manufactured by Lockheed Martin ranged from a low of 16 days late on average in 2021 all the way up to an average of 238 days late in 2024, according to a new Government Accountability Office report. Jet engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney, meanwhile, only managed to deliver two engines on time for the entire period between 2021 and 2024 while working on the modernization effort.
Despite this, the GAO report notes that the duo of defense contractors received “hundreds of millions of dollars in incentive fees that were intended to improve on time delivery.”
A review of social media and other public web pages shows that contractors were heavily invested in DEI, at times directly within the F-35 program, while chronically failing to meet the Pentagon’s deadlines
The program’s general manager at Lockheed Martin between April 2021 and January 2025, for instance, describes herself on social media as a “D&I” advocate. D&I is an acronym used at Lockheed Martin for “diversity and inclusion.”
“Lockheed Martin shares [the Texas Alliance for Minorities in Engineering’s] vision to promote diversity in these critical career fields,” she said in 2013.
More than a decade later, she expressed similar views by writing that “our diverse and inclusive workforce enhances our collective power, drives innovation and addresses our customers’ toughest challenges.”
The man who took over as general manager on the F-35 program in December 2024, after having worked on it for over a decade, represents a continuation of pro-DEI leadership. He describes himself as “an executive champion for advancing equity and inclusion” and spoke on an “inclusion” panel in March 2024 during which Lockheed Martin was praised for “exemplifying tenacious leadership in the DEI realm.”
A source at Lockheed Martin told the Washington Examiner that it is in full compliance with President Donald Trump’s executive orders restricting DEI practices among federal contractors and, since then, has had an on-time delivery rate of over 97% for the F-35 program.
Whistleblower reports and leaks released during the Biden years alleged that DEI was widespread at the highest levels of Lockheed Martin. In one instance, as reported in 2021 by conservative independent journalist Chris Rufo, 13 white male executives at the firm were made to participate in a three-day diversity training in which they were fed information critical of white men.
In response to the report, a spokesperson for Lockheed Martin said the company “has robust employee training programs focused on our core values of doing what is right, respecting others and performing with excellence” and that they “continuously evaluate the effectiveness of training programs to ensure they are aligned with our values, applicable laws and regulations, and incorporate employee feedback and best practices.”
Rufo also reported that the firm was awarding bonuses based on race, citing an anonymous whistleblower and internal documents. That reporting prompted Lockheed Martin to assert its commitment to meritocracy and to investigate the allegation.
While Lockheed Martin has historically prided itself on its DEI policies, earning a perfect score on the left-leaning Human Rights Campaign’s corporate equality index for its robust support of LGBT identity and touting its race-based “Business Resource Groups,” it has phased out its DEI programming following Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election.
Overall, the F-35 modernization program is hundreds of billions of dollars over budget and will cost taxpayers over $2 trillion.
“The F-35’s repeated and unmatched combat-proven performance proves time and again that Lockheed Martin’s No. 1 priority is creating and delivering the most advanced, technologically superior, mission-critical systems that protect Americans and our allies,” a spokeswoman for the firm told the Washington Examiner. “We put our warfighters ahead of everything else.”
RTX, the parent company of Pratt & Whitney, set aside considerable financial resources to support DEI while it was failing to meet the Pentagon’s deadlines. The firm, for instance, pledged $25 million in December 2020 as part of a five-year commitment to support “racial justice” and DEI. This commitment included 2-to-1 matching of employee donations to left-of-center activist groups like the NAACP, the National Urban League, and the Equal Justice Initiative.
Similar to Lockheed Martin, RTX’s leadership heavily emphasized its commitment to DEI during the Biden years but has slinked away from the topic since Trump took office.
Among other things, the corporation raised pride flags at its offices in observance of Pride Month, held an “inclusion week” in which it thanked those who were “advancing DEI efforts every day,” used diversity as a factor for promotion to leadership positions, described inclusion as the “engine of innovation,” received a perfect score on the HRC’s corporate equality index, encouraged white employees to “step aside” for their minority colleagues, and, as recently as February 2023, had a “Global Diversity, Equity And Inclusion Advisory Board.”
Since Trump’s election, the firm has removed DEI language from its website and pledged to comply with the president’s executive orders.
Pratt & Whitney did not respond to a request for comment.
PENTAGON SPENT MILLIONS INJECTING DEI INTO SCIENCE AND MEDICINE
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has made improving efficiency within the armed forces a priority of his tenure.
“This episode exemplifies why Secretary Hegseth and the Trump Administration are 100% right to fundamentally reform how the Pentagon does business,” Center to Advance Security in America Director James Fitzpatrick told the Washington Examiner. “The Biden team paid hundreds of millions to legacy contractors like Lockheed Martin for consistently failing to deliver for our warfighters, all while Lockheed was focused on DEI and other woke nonsense. It’s past time to hold these contractors accountable.”