Lockheed Martin has been under heightened pressure by the Trump administration. Billionaire Elon Musk, tasked with slashing government costs, has called for ending the F-35 program, describing it as “the worst military value for money in history” and said “manned fighter jets are obsolete in the age of drones.”

Following Trump's lead, organizations including Walmart, Lowe’s and Meta, have announced they would scale back their commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

Trump said the diversity programs discourage merit and leadership, and discriminate on the basis of race and sex. The directive was among a series of orders that seeks to reshape the U.S. military.

President Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives from the US military, according to reports. The BBC reported that the president may remove DEI initiatives from the defence department as part of several executive orders regarding the military on Monday (3 February).