SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Organization. General Dynamics is a global aerospace and defense company that offers a broad portfolio of products and services in business aviation; combat vehicles, weapons systems and munitions; information technology (IT) services; C4ISR (command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) solutions; and shipbuilding and ship repair.

On April 3, 2018, we completed our acquisition of CSRA Inc. (CSRA). See Note B for further discussion of the acquisition. For segment reporting purposes, concurrent with the acquisition, our Information Systems and Technology operating segment was reorganized into the Information Technology and Mission Systems segments. Our company now has five operating segments: Aerospace, Combat Systems, Information Technology, Mission Systems and Marine Systems. We collectively refer to Combat Systems, Information Technology, Mission Systems and Marine Systems as our defense segments. Prior-period segment information has been restated for this change.

We are divesting certain non-core operations in our Information Technology segment. Accordingly, the assets and liabilities of these operations, including an estimated allocation of goodwill, were classified as held for sale on September 30, 2018. As we expect these operations to be divested within the next 12 months, the assets and liabilities held for sale are included in other current assets and liabilities on the unaudited Consolidated Balance Sheet.

Basis of Consolidation and Classification. The unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements include the accounts of General Dynamics Corporation and our wholly owned and majority-owned subsidiaries. We eliminate all inter-company balances and transactions in the unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements. Some prior-year amounts have been reclassified among financial statement accounts or disclosures to conform to the current-year presentation.

Consistent with industry practice, we classify assets and liabilities related to long-term contracts as current, even though some of these amounts may not be realized within one year.

Further discussion of our significant accounting policies is contained in the other notes to these financial statements.

Interim Financial Statements. The unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements have been prepared pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission. These rules and regulations permit some of the information and footnote disclosures included in financial statements prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) to be condensed or omitted.

Our fiscal quarters are 13 weeks in length. Because our fiscal year ends on December 31, the number of days in our first and fourth quarters varies slightly from year to year. Operating results for the three- and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2018, are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2018.

The unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements contain all adjustments that are of a normal recurring nature necessary for a fair presentation of our results of operations and financial condition for the three- and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2018, and October 1, 2017.

These unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements should be read in conjunction with the Consolidated Financial Statements and notes thereto included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017.

Discontinued Operations, Net of Tax. Concurrent with the acquisition of CSRA, we were required by a government customer to dispose of certain CSRA operations to address an organizational conflict of interest with respect to services provided to the customer. In the third quarter of 2018, we sold these operations. In accordance with GAAP, the sale did not result in a gain for financial reporting purposes. However, the sale generated a taxable gain, resulting in tax expense of $13.

Accounting Standards Updates. On January 1, 2018, we adopted the following accounting standards issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB):

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ASU 2016-01, Financial Instruments - Overall (Subtopic 825-10): Recognition and Measurement of Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities. ASU 2016-01 addresses certain aspects of recognition, measurement, presentation and disclosure of financial instruments. Specific to our business, ASU 2016-01 requires equity investments to be measured at fair value with changes in fair value recognized in net income. The ASU eliminates the available-for-sale classification for equity investments that recognized changes in fair value as a component of other comprehensive income. We adopted the standard on a modified retrospective basis on January 1, 2018, and recognized the cumulative effect as a $24 increase to retained earnings on the date of adoption.

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ASU 2016-15, Statement of Cash Flows (Topic 230): Classification of Certain Cash Receipts and Cash Payments. ASU 2016-15 is intended to reduce diversity in practice in how certain cash receipts and cash payments are presented and classified in the Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows by providing guidance on eight specific cash flow issues. We adopted the standard retrospectively on January 1, 2018. The adoption of the ASU did not have a material effect on our cash flows for the nine-month period ended October 1, 2017.

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ASU 2017-07, Compensation - Retirement Benefits (Topic 715): Improving the Presentation of Net Periodic Pension Cost and Net Periodic Postretirement Benefit Cost. ASU 2017-07 requires the service cost component of net retirement benefit cost to be reported separately from the other components of net retirement benefit cost in the Consolidated Statement of Earnings. We adopted the standard retrospectively on January 1, 2018. Our restated operating earnings increased $11 and $33 for the three- and nine-month periods ended October 1, 2017, respectively, due to the reclassification of the non-service cost components of net benefit cost, and other income decreased by the same amount, with no impact to net earnings.

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ASU 2018-02, Income Statement - Reporting Comprehensive Income (Topic 220): Reclassification of Certain Tax Effects from Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income. ASU 2018-02 allows the reclassification from accumulated other comprehensive income to retained earnings of stranded tax effects resulting from the implementation of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (tax reform) enacted on December 22, 2017. We adopted the standard on January 1, 2018, and recognized a $614 increase to retained earnings on the date of adoption.

There are several other accounting standards that have been issued by the FASB but are not yet effective, including the following:

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ASU 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842). ASU 2016-02 requires the recognition of lease rights and obligations as assets and liabilities on the balance sheet. Previously, lessees were not required to recognize on the balance sheet assets and liabilities arising from operating leases. The ASU also requires disclosure of key information about leasing arrangements. ASU 2016-02 is effective on January 1, 2019, using a modified retrospective method of adoption as of January 1, 2017. In July 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-11, Leases (Topic 842): Targeted Improvements, that provides an alternative transition method of adoption, permitting the recognition of a cumulative-effect adjustment to retained earnings on the date of adoption.

We intend to adopt the standard on the effective date using the alternative transition method provided by ASU 2018-11. We are currently evaluating our population of leased assets in order to assess the impact of the ASU on our lease portfolio, and designing and implementing new processes and controls. Until this effort is completed, we cannot determine the effect of the ASU on our results of operations, financial condition or cash flows.

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ASU 2017-12, Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815): Targeted Improvements to Accounting for Hedging Activities. ASU 2017-12 is intended to simplify hedge accounting by better aligning an entity’s financial reporting for hedging relationships with its risk management activities. The ASU also simplifies the application of the hedge accounting guidance. ASU 2017-12 is effective on January 1, 2019, with early adoption permitted. For cash flow hedges existing at the adoption date, the standard requires adoption on a modified retrospective basis with a cumulative-effect adjustment to the Consolidated Balance Sheet as of the beginning of the year of adoption. The amendments to presentation guidance and disclosure requirements are required to be adopted prospectively. We intend to adopt the standard on the effective date, and we do not expect the adoption of the ASU to have a material effect on our results of operations, financial condition or cash flows.