Significant Accounting Policies Update (Policies)	3 Months Ended
Significant Accounting Policies Update (Policies)	Mar. 29, 2019
Accounting Policies [Abstract]
Basis of Presentation	BASIS OF PRESENTATION The December 31, 2018 Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet amounts have been derived from the previously audited Consolidated Balance Sheet of Kaman Corporation and subsidiaries (collectively, the “Company”), but do not include all disclosures required by accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("US GAAP"). In the opinion of management, the condensed consolidated financial information reflects all adjustments necessary for a fair statement of the Company’s financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the interim periods presented. All such adjustments are of a normal recurring nature, unless otherwise disclosed in this report. Certain amounts in prior year financial statements and notes thereto have been reclassified to conform to current year presentation. The statements should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018. The results of operations for the interim periods presented are not necessarily indicative of trends or of results to be expected for the entire year. The Company has a calendar year-end; however, its first three fiscal quarters follow a 13-week convention, with each quarter ending on a Friday. The first quarters for 2019 and 2018 ended on March 29, 2019, and March 30, 2018, respectively.
Recent Accounting Standards	RECENT ACCOUNTING STANDARDS Recent Accounting Standards Adopted In February 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-02 "Income Statement - Reporting Comprehensive Income (Topic 220) - Reclassification of Certain Tax Effects from Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income". The objective of this standard is to address the concern that tax effects of items within accumulated other comprehensive income do not appropriately reflect the tax rate because the Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017 ("Tax Reform") required the adjustment of deferred taxes be recorded to income. This ASU provides an entity the election to reclassify stranded tax effects resulting from Tax Reform to retained earnings from accumulated other comprehensive income. The standard update is effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2018. Early adoption is permitted. The adoption of ASU 2018-02 resulted in an increase to retained earnings of $23.1 million, primarily related to the stranded tax effects resulting from Tax Reform for pension and other post-retirement benefits. In August 2017, the FASB issued ASU 2017-12, "Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815) - Targeted Improvements to Accounting for Hedging Activities". The objective of this standard update is to improve the financial reporting of hedging relationships to better reflect the economic results of an entity's risk management activities in its financial statements. This ASU expands hedge accounting for both nonfinancial and financial risk components and refines the measurement of hedge results to better reflect an entity's hedging strategies. The standard update is effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2018. Early adoption is permitted. The adoption of this standard update did not have a material impact on the Company's consolidated financial statements. In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-02, “Leases (Topic 842)”. Under this ASU as amended, lessees are required to recognize the following for all leases (with the exception of short-term leases) at the commencement date: (i) a lease liability, which is a lessee’s obligation to make lease payments arising from a lease, measured on a discounted basis; and (ii) a right-of-use asset, which is an asset that represents the lessee’s right to use, or control the use of, a specified asset for the lease term. Lessor accounting is largely unchanged under this ASU as amended. This standard update is effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2018. Early adoption is permitted. On January 1, 2019, the Company adopted ASC 842 using the modified retrospective transition method allowing entities to initially apply the new leases standard at the adoption date and recognize a cumulative-effect adjustment to the opening balance of retained earnings in the period of adoption. As a result, the Company applied ASC 842 only to leases that existed as of January 1, 2019 and did not restate prior periods. The adoption of ASC 842 resulted in a net increase of approximately $90.0 million to its assets and liabilities as of January 1, 2019 due to the addition of right-of-use assets and lease liabilities for operating leases on the balance sheet; however, it did not have a material impact on the Company's cash flows, results of operations or debt covenant compliance. 2. RECENT ACCOUNTING STANDARDS (CONTINUED) Recent Accounting Standards Adopted (continued) The Company has elected the following practical expedients (which must be elected as a package and applied consistently to all leases): an entity need not reassess whether any expired or existing contracts are or contain leases, an entity need not reassess the lease classification for any expired or existing leases and an entity need not reassess initial direct costs for any existing leases. Additionally, the Company has elected the practical expedient to not separate nonlease components from the associated lease component and account for those components as a single component for real estate leases. Nonlease components for the Company's vehicle and other equipment leases are not material. The Company has elected not to apply the recognition requirements to short-term leases, and will recognize the lease payments in profit or loss on a straight-line basis over the lease term and variable payments in the period in which the obligation for those payments is incurred. Subsequent to the issuance of ASU 2016-02, the FASB has issued the following updates: ASU 2018-10, "Codification Improvements to Topic 842, Leases", ASU 2018-11, "Leases (Topic 842): Targeted Improvements - Transition - Comparative Reporting at Adoption" and ASU 2019-01, "Leases (Topic 842): Codification Improvements". The amendments in these updates affect the guidance contained within ASU 2016-02 and were similarly adopted on January 1, 2019. See Note 3, Significant Accounting Policies Update, for further information on the impact of these standard updates. Recent Accounting Standards Yet to be Adopted In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-15, "Intangibles - Goodwill and Other - Internal-Use Software (Subtopic 350-40) - Customer's Accounting for Implementation Costs Incurred in a Cloud Computing Arrangement That Is a Service Contract". The objective of the standard update is to provide additional guidance on the accounting for costs of implementation activities performed in a cloud computing arrangement that is a service contract to address the diversity in practice. The ASU requires an entity in a hosting arrangement that is a service arrangement to determine which costs to capitalize as an asset related to a service contract and which costs to expense, and to determine which project stage implementation activities relate to. Costs for implementation activities in the application development stage are capitalized depending on the nature of the costs, while costs incurred during the preliminary project and postimplementation stages are expensed as the activities are performed. Capitalized implementation costs of a hosting arrangement are expensed over the term of the hosting arrangement in the same line item in the statement of operations as the fees associated with the hosting element of the arrangement. The standard update is effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2019. Early adoption is permitted. The adoption of this standard update is not expected to have a material impact on the Company's consolidated financial statements. In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-14, "Compensation - Retirement Benefits - Defined Benefit Plans - General (Subtopic 715-20) - Disclosure Framework - Changes to Disclosure Requirements for Defined Benefit Plans". The objective of the standard update is to improve the effectiveness of disclosure requirements for defined benefit pension and other postretirement plans. This standard update removes disclosures that are no longer considered cost beneficial, clarifies specific requirements of disclosures and adds new disclosure requirements identified as relevant. The standard update is effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2020. Early adoption is permitted. The adoption of this standard update is not expected to have a material impact on the Company's consolidated financial statements. In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-13, "Fair Value Measurement (Topic 820) - Disclosure Framework - Changes to Disclosure Requirements for Fair Value Measurement". The objective of this standard update is to improve the effectiveness of disclosures for recurring and nonrecurring fair value measurements. This standard update removes certain disclosure requirements that are no longer considered cost beneficial, modifies existing disclosure requirements and adds new disclosure requirements identified as relevant. The standard update is effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2019. Early adoption is permitted. An entity is permitted to early adopt any removed or modified disclosures upon issuance of the ASU and delay adoption of the additional disclosures until the effective date. The adoption of this standard update is not expected to have a material impact on the Company's consolidated financial statements. 2. RECENT ACCOUNTING STANDARDS (CONTINUED) Recent Accounting Standards Yet to be Adopted (continued) In January 2017, the FASB issued ASU 2017-04, "Intangibles - Goodwill and Other (Topic 350): Simplifying the Test for Goodwill Impairment". The objective of this standard update is to simplify the subsequent measurement of goodwill, eliminating Step 2 from the goodwill impairment test. Under this ASU, an entity should perform its annual goodwill impairment test by comparing the fair value of a reporting unit with its carrying amount. An entity would recognize an impairment charge for the amount by which the carrying amount exceeds the reporting unit's fair value, assuming the loss recognized does not exceed the total amount of goodwill for the reporting unit. The standard update is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019. Early adoption is permitted. The impact of the adoption of this standard update is dependent on the Company's goodwill impairment assessment.
Lessee, Leases [Policy Text Block]	3. SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES UPDATE The Company's significant accounting policies are detailed in Note 1, Summary of Significant Accounting Policies of its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year-ended December 31, 2018. Significant changes to our accounting policies as a result of adopting new accounting standards are discussed below: Leasing Under Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC") 842, the Company determines if a contract contains a lease at the inception date of the contract. To determine if the contract contains a lease, the Company evaluates if there is an identified asset in the contract and if the Company has control over the use of the identified asset. There is an identified asset in the contract if the asset is explicitly or implicitly specified in the contract, the asset is physically distinct or the Company has the right to receive substantially all of the asset's capacity, and if the supplier does not have substantive substitution rights. The Company has control over the use of the identified asset if the Company obtains substantially all economic benefits from the use of the asset and can direct the use of the asset. The Company applied the practical expedient for any contracts that existed prior to January 1, 2019; therefore, the contracts were not reassessed to determine if they contain leases. The Company must classify each lease as a finance lease or operating lease. A lease is classified as a finance lease if the Company will own the asset by the end of the lease term, the Company is reasonably certain to exercise the purchase option, the lease term covers a major part of the asset's economic life, the sum of the present value of the lease payments and the present value of the residual value guarantee not included in the lease payments equal or exceed substantially all of the fair value of the underlying asset at lease commencement or if the lessor has no alternative use for the asset. If any of these criteria are not met, the lease is classified as an operating lease. The Company applied the practical expedient for any leases that existed prior to January 1, 2019; therefore, the lease classifications of existing leases were not reassessed (all existing leases classified as operating leases under ASC 840 were classified as operating leases under ASC 842 on January 1, 2019 and all existing leases classified as capital leases under ASC 840 were classified as finance leases under ASC 842 on January 1, 2019). The Company's operating leases consist of rent commitments under various leases for office space, warehouses, land and buildings at varying dates from January 2019 to June 2028. The terms of most of these leases are in the range of 3 to 10 years. Some of the Company's leases have fixed amount rent escalations, rent holidays or contingent rent that are recognized on a straight-line basis over the entire lease term. Material leasehold improvements and other landlord incentives are amortized over the shorter of their economic lives or the lease term, including renewal periods, if reasonably assured. Certain annual rentals are subject to renegotiation, with certain leases renewable for varying periods and certain leases including options to terminate the leases. While some of the Company's leases include options allowing early termination of the lease, the Company historically has not terminated its lease agreements early unless there is an economic, financial or business reason to do so. Substantially all real estate taxes, insurance and maintenance expenses associated with leased facilities are obligations of the Company. It is expected that in the normal course of business leases that expire will be renewed or replaced by leases on other similar property. The terms for most machinery and equipment leases range from 3 to 5 years. 3. SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES UPDATE (CONTINUED) Leasing - continued The majority of the Company's finance leases consist of assets purchased under the Company's master leasing agreement with PNC Equipment Finance ("PNC"), and are included in machinery, office furniture and equipment and construction in process. At March 29, 2019, the Company's master leasing agreement with PNC had a maximum capacity of $20.0 million. The terms of these leases are 5 years. Amortization of these assets is included in depreciation and amortization expense. At the commencement date, the right-of-use asset and lease liability are recorded to the Company's Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets when the Company obtains control of the use of the asset. Right-of-use assets represent the right to use an underlying asset for the lease term and lease liabilities represent the obligation to make payments upon entering into a lease agreement. The initial measurement of the lease liability is equal to the present value of the unpaid lease payments. Subsequent to the initial measurement, the lease liability continues to be measured at the present value of unpaid lease payments throughout the lease term. The lease liability is remeasured if the lease is modified and the modification is not accounted for as a separate contract, there is a change in the assessment of the lease term, the assessment of a purchase option exercise or the amount probable of being owed under a residual value guarantee, or a contingency is resolved resulting in some or all of the variable lease payments becoming fixed payments. The initial measurement of the right-of-use asset is equal to the total of the initial measurement of the lease liability, incremental costs to obtain the lease and prepaid lease payments, less any lease incentives received. Subsequent to the initial measurement, the right-of-use asset for a finance lease is equivalent to the initial measurement less accumulated amortization and any accumulated impairment losses. Generally, amortization of finance leases is recorded to cost of sales on a straight-line basis over the lease term. Subsequent to initial measurement, the right-of-use asset for an operating lease is equivalent to initial measurement less accumulated amortization (the difference between the straight-line lease cost for the period and the accretion of the lease liability using the effective interest method). The Company has elected not to apply the recognition requirements of ASC 842 to short-term leases (leases that, at the commencement date, have a lease term of twelve months or less and do not include an option to purchase the underlying asset that the lessee is reasonably certain to exercise) as permissible under the standard. For short-term leases, the Company recognizes lease payments on a straight-line basis and variable payments in the period in which the obligation for those payments is incurred. Leasing contracts can be separated into lease components, non-lease components and items that are not components of the contract (items that do not transfer a good or service to the Company). Two or more contracts may be combined if at least one of which is or contains a lease entered into or near the same time with the same counterparty and consider the contracts as a single transaction if the contracts are negotiated as a package with the same objective, the amount of consideration to be paid in one contract depends on the price of performance of the other contract or the rights to use the underlying assets conveyed in the contracts are a single lease component. Lease components are considered separate if the Company can benefit from the right to use either on its own or together with other resources readily available to the Company and the right to use is not highly dependent or highly interrelated with the other rights to use the underlying assets in the contract. Consideration in the contract is allocated only to lease and non-lease components of a contract. The Company has elected the practical expedient allowing the Company to combine lease and non-lease components by class as a single lease component for its real estate leases. Nonlease components for the Company's vehicles and other equipment leases are not material. The lease term is the noncancellable period for which a lessee has the right to use an underlying asset, including periods covered by an option to extend the lease if the lessee is reasonably certain to exercise that option and periods covered by an option to terminate the lease if the lessee is reasonably certain not to exercise that option. For renewal options, the Company performs an assessment at commencement if it is reasonably likely to exercise the option. The assessment is based on the Company's intentions, past practices, estimates and factors that create an economic incentive for the Company. Generally, the Company is not reasonably certain to exercise the renewal option in a lease contract as it performs an assessment for most real estate leases within six months prior to termination comparing the renewal rents under the option with the fair market returns for equivalent property under similar terms and conditions. Although the Company does not historically change locations often, it is not reasonably certain the Company will exercise the renewal option; therefore, the periods covered by the renewal option are not typically included in the lease term at commencement. While some of the Company's leases include options allowing early termination of the lease, the Company historically has not terminated its lease agreements early unless there is an economic, financial or business reason to do so; therefore, the Company does not typically consider the termination option in its lease term at commencement. 3. SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES UPDATE (CONTINUED) Leasing - continued Consideration in the contract is the sum of lease payments relating to the use of the underlying asset, fixed payments and other in-substance fixed payments, less any incentives received. Remeasurement of variable lease payments based on an index is only required if remeasurement is required for another reason, such as a change in lease term or change in estimates of probable payments under residual value guarantees. If remeasured, the remeasurement date becomes the new date for updating the payments based on the index. The Company uses the discount rate implicit in a lease contract, if available. As most of the Company's leases do not provide an implicit rate, the Company uses the incremental borrowing rate based on the information available at the commencement date in determining the present value of lease payments. For any leases that existed prior to the adoption of the standard, the Company used the incremental borrowing rate as of January 1, 2019 based on the type of asset and term of the lease. The Company separated its real estate leases by classes of lease terms and used the incremental borrowing rate consistent with its lease term class to determine the present value of lease payments. As most of the Company's vehicles have a four-year lease term, the Company used the incremental borrowing rate consistent with a four-year lease term for all vehicles. For all other equipment leases, the Company used the incremental borrowing rate consistent with a five-year lease term as the majority of the Company's leases for other equipment have a five-year lease term.