Postretirement Benefit Plans

9 Months Ended

Sep. 25, 2011

Postretirement Benefit Plans

Postretirement Benefit Plans

NOTE 7 – POSTRETIREMENT BENEFIT PLANS

The net pension cost and the net postretirement benefit cost related to our qualified defined benefit pension plans and our retiree medical and life insurance plans include the following components:

	Quarter Ended						Nine Months Ended
	September 25, 2011			September 26, 2010			September 25, 2011			September 26, 2010
	(In millions)
Qualified defined benefit pension plans
Service cost	$	244		$	226		$	731		$	677
Interest cost		479			469			1,438			1,407
Expected return on plan assets		(509	)		(506	)		(1,525	)		(1,520	)
Amortization of prior service cost		21			21			62			62
Recognized net actuarial losses		220			148			660			446
Total net pension expense	$	455		$	358		$	1,366		$	1,072
Retiree medical and life insurance plans
Service cost	$	8		$	9		$	24		$	27
Interest cost		41			42			122			124
Expected return on plan assets		(35	)		(32	)		(105	)		(96	)
Amortization of prior service cost		(4	)		(4	)		(12	)		(12	)
Recognized net actuarial losses		8			6			25			19
Total net postretirement expense	$	18		$	21		$	54		$	62

We made $960 million and $1.3 billion in contributions to our qualified defined benefit pension plans during the quarter and nine months ended September 25, 2011, including required amounts of approximately $1.0 billion. We also may review options for further voluntary contributions in 2011. We do not expect any contributions to be required related to the retiree medical and life insurance plans in 2011.