Revenues and Operating Earnings by Reportable Segment (Detail) (USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended				9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2012		Sep. 30, 2011		Sep. 30, 2012		Sep. 30, 2011
Segment Reporting, Revenue Reconciling Item [Line Items]
Revenues	$ 766.7		$ 636.0		$ 2,282.1		$ 1,845.1
Operating earnings	134.3	[1]	112.1	[1]	401.9	[1]	318.9	[1]
Interest expense	31.8		26.2		93.4		78.4
Debt prepayment costs	82.1				82.1
Earnings before income taxes	20.4		85.9		226.4		240.5
Commercial Aircraft
Segment Reporting, Revenue Reconciling Item [Line Items]
Revenues	385.6		333.1		1,152.6		951.9
Operating earnings	67.3		56.6		202.7		157.8
Consumables Management
Segment Reporting, Revenue Reconciling Item [Line Items]
Revenues	295.8		238.7		869.2		709.4
Operating earnings	54.6		47.6		161.9		140.5
Business Jet
Segment Reporting, Revenue Reconciling Item [Line Items]
Revenues	85.3		64.2		260.3		183.8
Operating earnings	$ 12.4		$ 7.9		$ 37.3		$ 20.6

[1] Operating earnings include an allocation of corporate IT costs, employee benefits and selling, general and administrative costs based on the proportion of each segment's systems users, number of employees and sales.