Business Acquisitions, Goodwill and Intangible Assets - Goodwill (Details) - Manufacturing group - USD ($) $ in Millions	12 Months Ended
Dec. 30, 2017	Dec. 31, 2016
Changes in the carrying amount of goodwill
Beginning Balance	$ 2,113	$ 2,023
Acquisitions	234	97
Foreign currency translation	17	(7)
Ending Balance	2,364	2,113
Textron Aviation
Changes in the carrying amount of goodwill
Beginning Balance	613	560
Acquisitions		54
Foreign currency translation	1	(1)
Ending Balance	614	613
Bell
Changes in the carrying amount of goodwill
Beginning Balance	31	31
Ending Balance	31	31
Textron Systems
Changes in the carrying amount of goodwill
Beginning Balance	1,087	1,051
Acquisitions		36
Ending Balance	1,087	1,087
Industrial
Changes in the carrying amount of goodwill
Beginning Balance	382	381
Acquisitions	234	7
Foreign currency translation	16	(6)
Ending Balance	$ 632	$ 382

Amount after accumulated impairment loss of an asset representing future economic benefits arising from other assets acquired in a business combination that are not individually identified and separately recognized.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=35741047&loc=d3e13816-109267

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 20
-Section 45
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6388280&loc=d3e13770-109266

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 20
-Section 45
-Paragraph 5
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=77989000&loc=SL49117168-202975

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- Definition

Amount of increase in asset representing future economic benefits arising from other assets acquired in a business combination that are not individually identified and separately recognized resulting from a business combination.

+ References

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- Definition

Amount of foreign currency translation gain (loss) which increases (decreases) an asset representing future economic benefits from other assets acquired in a business combination that are not individually identified and separately recognized.

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- Definition

A roll forward is a reconciliation of a concept from the beginning of a period to the end of a period.

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