Textron, Inc. Q2 2026 Earnings Call

Hello, and thank you for standing by. My name is Regina, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Textron Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Release Conference Call. Please note that today's call is being recorded and will be available for replay later today. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you'd like to ask a question during this time, simply press star then the number one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, press star one again. I'd now like to turn the conference over to Scott Hagstrom, Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead. Thanks, Regina, and good morning, everyone.

Before we begin, I'd like to mention we'll be discussing future estimates and expectations during our call today. These forward-looking statements are subject to various risk factors, which are detailed in our SEC filings and also in today's press release. On the call today, we have Lisa Atherton, our Chief Executive Officer, and David Rosenberg, our Chief Financial Officer. Our earnings call presentation can be found in the investor relations section of our website. With that, I'll turn the call over to Lisa.

Thanks, Scott. Good morning, everyone. In the second quarter, Textron grew revenue by 3%, continuing a strong start with growth in each of our manufacturing segments, contributing to higher revenues of $500 million, or 7% through the first half of the year compared to the first half of last year. We continued to see healthy commercial and military demand environments, illustrated by the aviation backlog and a favorable FY 2027 and future years' defense program or FY budget request for our military franchises. We also recently achieved a couple of key milestones across the business with the rollout of the 500th Citation CJ4 and the 700th Bell 505 helicopter. These milestones reflect the strength of our teams and our ability to design, develop, manufacture, sell, and support products that remain highly valued by customers over many years.

Before I turn to the segment-level comments, I'd like to reiterate my key priorities that I laid out at the start of the year. First, portfolio focus. We quickly took action last quarter when we announced our intent to separate the industrial segment, putting us on the path to be a pure-play aerospace and defense company. Second is our execution and resilience. I will talk more about this as I go through each of the segments, but there are two fundamental themes here. Customer demand remains very strong. Simply put, people want our products, and we have multi-year backlogs in many areas. We must become more efficient at meeting that demand. We need to more fundamentally address productivity, and that is where I'm focusing the organization. When we assess our production challenges, I see opportunities both externally and internally.

Externally, while the supply chain has improved in most areas, we still experience issues with some key components. At the same time, the issues are not just external. They are internal as well. We have a much newer workforce, and we must utilize our engineering team to improve producibility for that workforce. We recognize there is more work to do in order to improve our execution, and I'll touch on that more in the segment discussion. Now, moving to the segment results. Textron Aviation had $1.5 billion of revenue in the second quarter, up 1% from the prior year, reflecting higher revenue for both aircraft and aftermarket. Demand across jets and turboprops continued to be robust during the quarter, supporting a backlog of $8 billion. We delivered 40 jets and 44 commercial turboprops in the quarter, compared to 49 jets and 34 commercial turboprops in last year's second quarter.

In terms of our operational efforts at Aviation, our focus is centered on three areas: investing in the workforce, improving factory execution, and strengthening the supply chain. Developments in these areas include, on the direct labor front, attrition has improved materially, aided by our investment in Textron Aviation's Career and Learning Center. After spiking during COVID and remaining elevated, attrition has now returned to more normalized levels, with the improvement even more pronounced among early career hires. In addition, hiring levels have returned to a more normalized pace. As our workforce gains experience and stability improves, we expect to see corresponding gains in productivity and efficiency. In factory execution, we are investing in both our people and our capacity. On the factory floor, we have significantly increased engineering production support as we prioritize engineering resources to improve producibility.

Within operations, we are adding targeted capacity in areas such as landing gear, milling, and paint to support improved throughput and execution. We are also investing in producibility and process improvements across the King Air and light jet production lines. In supply chain, we are expanding dual-sourcing initiatives to strengthen supplier resiliency and support more consistent parts availability in the factory. At the same time, supply chain conditions continue to improve. While we are still managing a handful of pain points, parts availability has improved significantly in recent years, leaving us with a more finite set of issues. We remain actively engaged with these key suppliers. Alongside our operational focus, Aviation continued to advance its product portfolio and sales momentum during the quarter. In terms of new product development, our Gen3 light jet development programs continue to move toward Federal Aviation Administration certification.

The CJ4 Gen3 and M2 Gen3 are currently in the flight test phase of development, and the CJ3 Gen3 is expected to achieve first flight in the third quarter, with all three aircraft expected to enter service next year. Also, the Denali continues to advance through its final phases of flight testing and is pacing to enter service in 2027. From a customer perspective, we entered into a multi-aircraft fleet purchase agreement with Platoon Aviation that positions it to become the largest Citation Longitude fleet in Europe. Textron Aviation also entered into an agreement with SD Aviation for two M2 Gen3 jets and a CJ3 Gen 2 jet, with options for three additional light jets. We delivered the first SkyCourier into both the Philippines and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

In both cases, customers took the 19-passenger variant equipped with the optional passenger-to-freighter conversion kit, enabling the aircraft to transition between full passenger and full cargo configurations. In addition, we expanded our global service footprint, highlighted by the opening of a new Melbourne service facility and continued ramping deliveries of the Ascend with NetJets taking its first five aircraft in the quarter. Moving over to Bell, we had another quarter of solid growth with revenue up 6% from a year ago, driven by increased military and commercial revenue. We continue to make progress on the MV-22 Cheyenne program, which remains a key long-term growth driver for our company. This includes completing the first two wing structures, representing an important step forward in the program's build and development progression.

Building on decades of experience with the V-22, the first wing was fabricated with 90% fewer labor hours compared to the initial V-22 wing build. The second wing build was produced with an additional 40% reduction on that, highlighting the team's focus on affordability and production readiness. As we previously disclosed, the U.S. Army is pursuing an above-threshold reprogramming request for an additional $350 million of government fiscal year 2026 funds for the MV-22 program. We anticipate Congress to complete this process within the third quarter. Absent these funds, Textron has made the determination to move forward on a self-funded basis to support the program through the remainder of the government's fiscal year. We believe that it is the best long-term interest and underscores our firm commitment to the U.S. Army and the MV-22 program to continue working during this period.

We remain confident in the U.S. Army's commitment to the MV-22 Cheyenne, as evidenced by the ATR process and their robust funding request in the FY 2027 budget. We continue to stay closely engaged with our customer in support of program execution. Bell's other military and commercial businesses delivered solid performance in the quarter. We continue to drive advancements across our installed base, including progress on our V-22 Nacelle Improvement Program, which has produced a 75% reduction in maintenance hours, resulting in a significant boost in operational readiness and maintainability. On the commercial side, Bell delivered 36 helicopters, up year-over-year from 32 in last year's second quarter. From an operational perspective at Bell, our focus is centered on two critical areas: strengthening the supply chain and improving factory execution.

The supply chain team continues to focus on the dual sourcing of critical raw materials needed to support gearbox and rotor blade manufacturing, including gear steel, castings, and extrusions. Capital investments made at our Drive System Center and Rotors facility began in the quarter. These improvements are aimed at increasing capacity and throughput while reducing touch labor. We also have a new AI-enabled shop floor scheduling tool that was born in Bell's Manufacturing Technology Center, which has completed testing and started to roll out across Bell's fabrication centers. Alongside our operational focus, Bell continued to see demand across its portfolio, including an order for three additional Bell 407s by Life Flight Network, the largest not-for-profit air medical program in the country, which currently operates 35 Bell aircraft. At Systems, the business had another great quarter with revenue growth of 7%, driven by execution across its programs.

Through the first half of the year, Systems generated revenue growth of 10%, reflecting positive momentum in the segment. During the quarter, we began production of the Mobile Strike Force Vehicle at our Slidell, Louisiana facility for delivery of 65 units to Ukraine. In addition, following the $450 million pre-production development award from the U.S. Marine Corps earlier this year, the Advanced Reconnaissance Vehicle, or ARV program, completed its systems functional review and continued design work in preparation for delivering 16 prototype vehicles. Our ATAC business also had a good quarter, driven by new contracts kicking off with the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps. At Industrial, Textron Specialized Vehicles experienced strong growth in the PTV, while its core E-Z-GO Golf business has stabilized as the lease renewal cycle normalizes.

Kautex secured another new business award for its Pentatonic battery systems, representing progress in supporting electrification and future growth opportunities within the segment. I'd also like to thank the teams at Kautex and Textron Specialized Vehicles as they continue to successfully operate the businesses while also supporting the work associated with the separation process. We recently launched the process to pursue a sale of Industrial and are proceeding according to plan. This is an important step as we advance on the path of becoming a pure-play aerospace and defense company. As we look ahead, I am encouraged by the enthusiasm our customers have around our products and the commitment our employees have as we continue to work to improve operational performance. We are clear-eyed about the future, we are committed to executing on our strategy. With that, I'll turn the call over to David.

Thank you, Lisa, and good morning, everyone. Turning to slide 11 of the earnings presentation, revenues in the quarter of $3.8 billion were up 3%, or $111 million from last year's second quarter. Segment profit in the quarter of $353 million was in line with the second quarter of 2025. During this year's second quarter, adjusted net income was $1.62 per share, compared to $1.55 per share in last year's second quarter. Manufacturing cash flow before pension contributions totaled $154 million, compared to $336 million in last year's second quarter. During the quarter, we repurchased approximately 2.3 million shares, returning $209 million in cash to shareholders. Now let's review how each of the segments contributed, starting with Textron Aviation.

On slide 12, revenues at Textron Aviation of $1.5 billion were up 1% or $22 million from last year's second quarter, reflecting higher aircraft revenues of $17 million and higher aftermarket parts and service revenues of $5 million. The increase in aircraft revenues was primarily due to higher pricing, partially offset by lower volume and mix. The decrease in volume and mix largely reflected lower Citation Jet and Defense volume, partially offset by higher commercial turboprop volume. Segment profit was $165 million in the second quarter, down $5 million or 3% from a year ago, primarily due to an unfavorable impact from manufacturing inefficiencies and lower aircraft volume mix, partially offset by lower warranty costs. Backlog at the end of the second quarter was $8 billion. Looking at Bell, revenues of $1.1 billion were up 6% or $58 million from the second quarter of 2025.

The revenue increase in the quarter was driven by higher military revenues of $47 million, largely due to higher volume on H-1 production and the MV-75 program. Commercial helicopters, parts, and service revenues increased $11 million compared to the second quarter of 2025, primarily due to higher pricing. Segment profit of $75 million was down $5 million or 6% from last year's second quarter, primarily due to an unfavorable impact from program performance and from the mix of military programs, partially offset by lower research and development costs. As Lisa mentioned, the Army is focused on its reprogramming efforts for the government's fiscal year 2026. With that, we continue to execute on the MV-75 Cheyenne program on a self-funded basis as we wait for the ATR process to conclude. Backlog in the segment ended the quarter at $7.5 billion.

At Textron Systems, revenues of $347 million were up 7% or $23 million from the second quarter of 2025, primarily due to higher volume on armored land vehicles and military training and support services provided by Airborne Tactical Advantage Company, or ATAC. Segment profit of $44 million was up $4 million or 10% compared with the second quarter of 2025, primarily due to lower research and development costs. Backlog in the segment ended the quarter at $3.3 billion. Looking at industrials, revenues were $848 million, up $9 million from last year's second quarter. Kautex's revenue increased $17 million, largely due to a favorable impact from pricing and from foreign exchange rate fluctuations. Textron's specialized vehicle revenues decreased $8 million, reflecting lower volume and mix and the impact from the disposition of the powersports business, partially offset by higher pricing.

Segment profit of $59 million was up $5 million or 9% in the second quarter of 2025, primarily due to higher pricing net of inflation, partially offset by lower volume and mix. Pricing net of inflation includes tariffs recovered in the second quarter of 2026 that were previously imposed as part of IEEPA. Finance segment revenues were $14 million, and profit was $10 million in the second quarter of 2026 as compared to segment revenues of $15 million and profit of $8 million in the second quarter of 2025. To wrap up with guidance, we are reiterating our expected full-year adjusted earnings per share to be in the range of $6.40-$6.60. We are also reiterating our expected full-year manufacturing cash flow before pension contributions to be in the range of $700 million-$800 million.

Our full-year guidance assumes receipt of additional FY 2026 funding for the MV-75 Cheyenne program. Absent the receipt of any additional funding and inclusive of other outlook assumptions, our adjusted EPS could be negatively impacted by $0.20-$0.30, and cash flow could be negatively impacted by $150 million-$250 million. This concludes our prepared remarks. We are happy to open the line for questions.

We will now begin the question-and-answer session. To ask a question, simply press star followed by the number 1 on your telephone keypad. Our first question will come from the line of Robert Stallard with Vertical Research. Please go ahead. Thanks much.

Good morning. Morning, Robert. Lisa, I was wondering if I could start with you.

I was wondering if you could give us an update of what you think the aviation business will be doing in the second half of this year, and whether these supply chain issues could be alleviated.

Thanks, Robert. Look, I think the dynamics at Aviation are just exactly how we framed them out. We have very strong demand, and we have to continue to drive better operational efficiency. When we talk about labor, I mentioned that our attrition rate had spiked. It remained elevated for quite some time, but that's now stabilized, which has significantly helped. We continue to have that newer workforce that just has to further season through the manufacturing floor. Just to put a finer point on that, we have about 50% of our workforce that has less than five years of experience, compared to 2019 when that was less than 30% that had that experience. We are continuing to make great progress there with that Learning Center, and I think that's going to continue to prove out as a successful investment into our factory.

We've made some very intense and intentional investments here along with the Career and Learning Center. It gets the right people in the door. It screens them effectively. It sets them up for a better transition when we get them out on the factory. We've also increased the engineering resources out there on the factory floor. That helps us with the learning curves. It's going to help us with issue resolution more quickly on the factory floor, and then just overall quality management so that we have the right products getting out the door at the right time. I believe we'll see increasing benefit from this effort and energy over time. Simultaneously, when we look at the workforce development, we still are navigating supplier challenges. We have largely managed through the bulk of them, but we still have some key pain points that we are focusing on.

Where we can, we are dual sourcing in these areas that can increase capacity, and it's going to protect our operations. We don't want to see out-of-station work, that's what we're trying to focus on to make sure that we bring that material in so that we don't have those out-of-station inefficiencies. In addition to that, we have initiated a cross-company supply chain council so that we can start approaching some of these suppliers that we see across all of our segments, and just really negotiating with them with a much larger position. As we move to a more pure play aerospace and defense company, we're going to lean into those efficiencies across the company. I'm very confident this is going to improve. We are taking concrete steps and really prioritizing the investment where we need to see that improved performance.

Dave, I don't know if you have any other color you want to add to that?

Sure. Robert, as you've often heard us talk about, we believe the aviation business should have incremental margins of about 20%-25%. If you look right now at the overall productivity challenges we're having, it's not only impacting our overall cost, but also preventing us from delivering additional new aircraft, which of course are very much accretive. Looking at the overall opportunity set that Lisa just highlighted, it's probably worth about $150 million of incremental profit to us, or about 200 basis points, which would then tie to that 20%-25% incremental margins. Obviously, we're not going to achieve that tomorrow, but with the focus that Lisa highlighted of our engineering resources, our capital investments back into the factory, we believe over the medium term, we're going to get there.

To your overall question about the second half of the year, I would say when we look at Q3, you can expect revenue cadence to have a similar profile to Q2. In terms of margins, I would expect that we wouldn't see margin growth until Q4 of this year versus where we sit today.

That's great. Thanks so much for that.

Our next question will come from the line of Peter Arment with Baird. Please go ahead. Thanks. Good morning, Lisa, Dave, Scott.

Hey, Lisa, maybe just to add, to follow up on Dave's last comment on the second half of the year volume for aviation deliveries. You're basically matching last year's levels currently. You're, I think, only three units less than last year, first half deliveries. You're investing a lot. Trying to get a better handle on when we should start to think about where that productivity starts to really flow through. You've talked about the capacity additions and the new employees, but thinking about absolute level of deliveries, is there the ability to give a finer point on when you think that productivity starts to flow through? Thanks. I'm not sure we're going to be able to give a finer point on the exact dates of when that flows through.

I think if we look at the various aspects, when you talk about the employees in particular, it's been pretty well proven out that it takes about five to seven years to generate an employee that has all the reps and sets to be able to get through the learning curves of being out there on the factory floor. When you talk about those new employees that started coming in around 2022, we should start to see that yield next year, with employee productivity. We are starting to see areas across the factory floor, we are seeing that improvement. I think in the next year, we see the learning curve starting to improve.

From the out-of-station work, if we can get some of this dual sourcing addressed and bring some of these, in particular things like spars into the factory, that will significantly improve our productivity. Our goal is to start seeing improvement in this area of overall product deliveries towards the middle, last part of 2027.

Got it. I'll leave it there. Thanks. Thanks. Our next question will come from the line of Sheila Kahyaoglu with Jefferies.

Please go ahead. Good morning, Lisa and Dave.

If you guys could talk more about Bell and the funding situation for FY 2026 regarding MV-75. How do we think about it from a procedural standpoint from here, the financial implications, and how are you navigating the workforce, the development program through the end of this year and potentially into next year?

Sure. Thanks, Sheila. From a process perspective, as we discussed, the Army is working through their normal ATR process or above-threshold reprogramming process. It allows them to realign funds inside of their own budget, it has to go back to Congress for Congress to sign off to move that authority from one program to the other. They have worked through that process pretty diligently over the last several months. It's normal around this time of year for this to occur, and our understanding at this point is that it has been approved through the OMB process and should be sent to Congress soon. We anticipate any day. Based on the Congressional calendar, it's my expectation this could stretch out until September before Congress gets to the point where they actually sign off on the realignment of those funds.

Absent that, we've made the determination that really is in the best interest of the overall long-term health of the program for us to continue forward. We have communicated that well with the Army, we are working with them to make sure that they understand the work is progressing on the development of the program as we move forward. If you look at overall Bell's results through the quarter, candidly, they actually performed very well in the quarter with revenue up 6%. It did impact their profitability because of the way we addressed this potential ATR. Going forward, we took a very conservative booking rate as we have not yet received that ATR. With that program adjustment, if we had not had that adjustment, Bell's margins would have been very comfortably inside their guidance range for the quarter.

Our next question will come from the line of Gautam Khanna with TD Cowen. Please go ahead. Yes, thanks.

Good morning. Just to follow up on that last question and answer. To be clear, are you guys moving forward with the supply chain, not slowing them down on the MV-75? Relatedly, on the booking rate adjustment, did you assume some learning curve loss, if you will, in the adjustment, or why was that adjustment made if you expect the funding fairly imminently?

Sure. Regarding the supply chain, we are still working with our supply chain. We have put, say, minor spending caps on the supply chain to stay within that $350 million range. That is what we had anticipated to execute on during this quarter anyway. We're working with our suppliers to make sure we stay inside that cap, because we want to make sure that we don't lose any momentum that we have gained with the suppliers to date. I'm sorry, your second question again, could you please state that?

Yes. On the reduction in the booking rate, was that an assumption on learning curve loss? Why do a change in the booking rate if the level of business activity is the same on the program?

It's not a change in learning curve. It's a conservative approach to the booking rate because the ATR hasn't been awarded yet. That was a Q2 impact, we'll see how it plays out in Q3.

Got you. Just to put a fine point on the other impact to guidance to revenue, if that money doesn't come through, did you say it was $350 million, or what is the revenue impact if the money doesn't come through?

It would be roughly around that. We don't perceive a situation where our Bell revenue guidance will change in this scenario. To put a finer point on it, is the way we look at it right now, obviously, we said there's a 20%-30% impact from a totality perspective. When we look at our different businesses right now, we'd expect from a guidance perspective, we would likely be above the guide at our industrial business from a margin perspective. On the high side of the guided systems, assuming Bell gets the ATR, we think we'd be comfortably in the guide, and we would expect aviation would be on the low end of the guide. That's kind of the puts and takes overall that drive the 20%-30% impact, and overall on revenue, we see ourselves roughly in line across the businesses today.

Very helpful. Thank you. Yep.

Our next question will come from the line of Gavin Parsons with UBS. Please go ahead. Morning. Hey, Gavin, we're having a hard time hearing you.

Sorry, guys. Good morning. Can you hear me?

You're back, yep. Appreciate it.

Thanks for the color on the aviation margin opportunity. That is very helpful to quantify. Is that purely internal productivity, or does that also include an assumption that the supply chain improves? Just trying to get a sense for how much of that is under your control versus dependent on external supply chain improvement.

It's certainly a combination of both, but when you look at external suppliers, for example, you saw Lisa highlighted earlier, we can also work that via dual sourcing. It certainly is a combination of both, and solving the external supply chain issues along with investing our engineering resources to make our planes more producible is kind of the secret sauce to improving the overall picture. I'd say it's certainly a 50/50 split for both, but we certainly want to drive our own destiny when it comes to our external suppliers as well.

Thank you. Our next question will come from the line of Seth Seifman with JP Morgan.

Please go ahead. Hey, thanks very much, and good morning.

Is there a limit on if you don't get the ATR by a certain time, a limit to how much you'd spend?

We are trying to manage this to the $350 million threshold that we had expected to have by the ATR, that's what we're internally managing to. On October 1st, when the FY 2027 budget is initiated, even if there is a continuing resolution, the government would go back to its normal spending with the company. We are managing this over the next, say, nine weeks, to make sure that we stay within the $350 million, but also progressing the program as needed to get it ready to continue to move forward with the desires of first flight.

Okay. Excellent. Thanks. Our next question will come from the line of Myles Walton with Wolfe Research.

Please go ahead. Thanks. Good morning.

First, a clarification if you could, Dave, on the tariff relief. Can you just size that? Lisa, on the fourth quarter MV-75 program strategy, if you're under a continuing resolution, do you assume that everything in the budget documents, which obviously is quite bullish, do you assume that that's where you should run the program or do you take a more approach? Yeah. Yeah. I thought I'd hit it first and then I'll pass it over to Dave for the tariff.

The way the process would work with the continuing resolution is the government's only going to be authorized to spend at the levels that they were approved for in 2026, which was around $1.2 billion. They also had an additional $310 million from the reconciliation budget. They would have a percentage of that allowables for us to spend on a continuing resolution. We would probably be somewhat conservative in the fourth quarter, but in line with what we expected to perform when we put together our operating plan.

We've been also working that process with the Army to make sure that we continue to progress towards the goals of first flight, but feel like we're pretty solidly funded through the first, I'll say six months of FY 2027 to give the government time to get through their continuing resolution process.

On the tariff question, the big impact on tariffs this quarter was at TSV within our industrial segment. We got a gross refund of IEEPA tariffs of $21 million for TSV. The net impact that on the results was about $18 million.

Okay. Thank you. Our next question will come from the line of Noah Poponak with Goldman Sachs.

Please go ahead. Hey, good morning, everyone.

Dave, just want to make sure I understand the aviation margin progression you're pointing to. It sounds like you're saying 3Q is relatively flat sequentially, 4Q up. Do you still get to the low end of 11%-12% for the full year? I guess if I took 11% as a starting point for 2026 and assumed you achieved the 20 to 25 incremental for a few years, closer to the end of the decade, you would add that 200 basis points you talked about to get into the 13s. Is that sort of the quarterly and annual shape of the margin you're now looking at?

I think you described 2026 very well, I'll probably wait till January to give you guidance on 2027.

Okay. Then just to follow up on Myles' question there, I guess, what is the risk, or not risk, but just what is a potential for facing this need for reprogramming of dollars on MV-75 multiple years in a row? Is 2026 unique in that the acceleration of schedule was after the funding process, or could we potentially need reprogramming and have this risk for a few years ahead?

No, you got it right. This is, I'll say, a unique one-off, having to do this ATR process because of the acceleration request happened after the Army had submitted their FY 2026 budget to Congress. When we met with them a year ago and laid out what the funding needs were for 2027 and sub, that is what you see reflected in the current fight up requests that they have for 2027 and beyond. We view this as a, I'll call it, a one-time event, and then we will manage very closely to the allowable budgets going forward to meet our expectations.

Okay. Citation jet or aviation business jet deliveries for the year, do you still see that at the same level as where you started the year's plan or started guidance at the beginning of the year, or are you now expecting that to be lower?

We obviously aren't going to get into deliveries, but from a revenue perspective, we see ourselves in line versus our previous guidance for the year.

Okay. All right. Thank you.

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of David Strauss with Wells Fargo.

Please go ahead. Thanks, Maureen.

David, you might be on mute. There we go. Can you hear me?

Gotcha. Okay, thanks. The press release mentioned that you've initiated the sale process for Industrial.

Is the sale of all of Industrial the more likely path from here as compared to spinning it out?

Yes, I think we're early in that process, where we are kind of doing a dual path of initiating the sale process as well as the work required to do a spin. We have the wheels in motion for, and are talking with candidly a significant number of inbounds on the sales side. That interest has been very encouraging, and I think with the good foundation that we have at both Kautex and TSV, we're actually quite pleased with how that sale process is going. We are in the early phases of those, I'll say NDAs and talking with folks simultaneously still working towards the spin if something were not to fall out the way we'd like in a sale process. In terms of how we would do that's yet to be seen.

I think we've seen various levels of interest of all of industrial in one piece, and in some cases, it's been in different parts and pieces. We will evaluate that over the coming weeks, and you guys will be sure to know soon.

Okay. Then a follow-up on MV-75. We've talked a lot about kind of the FY 2026 situation, but what about timing on getting the LRIP contract? Any change to expectations on the size of the charge associated with when you actually sign that contract?

No change in our outlook right now. I'm assuming Q4, Q1 exercise, we have that in a range of $60 million to $110 million.

Okay. Thanks very much. Our next question comes from the line of John Godden with Citi.

Please go ahead. Hey guys, thanks for taking my question.

First, Lisa, I just wanted to follow up on all of the new jets for 2027. You mentioned a bunch of Gen 3 light jets. You mentioned the Denali. Maybe you could just sort of talk about the customer reaction to that and talk about, and elaborate on the very strong demand trends that you're seeing.

Yeah, sure. We actually just wrapped up at Oshkosh last week. We saw lots of demand, even just coming out of that event, where as you can see in the backlog that we are representing here and in our press release, it's very exciting for folks to kind of see these Gen 3 upgrades coming. I'm not going to give, I'll say, specifics on which ones we intend to deliver and when. I would say there's a lot of energy, and that's reflected in the backlog that you're seeing. We are very specific with how we book backlog. It's deposits, and it's guarantees of when we would deliver those crafts. That is firm from backlog that you see represented there for those aircraft.

Okay. If I could just ask a question on MV-75 and Bell, but a little bit bigger picture. We've seen a lot of innovation in rotorcraft. Last week at Farnborough, we saw the Anduril Thunder autonomous tiltrotor aircraft. Obviously, the MV-75 has modern capabilities, no question about that. Maybe you could just talk about big picture, the direction of rotorcraft innovation arcs, and kind of where you see that market going and how Bell's positioned.

From a technology perspective, I think what you're seeing underscores the benefits of tiltrotor for speed and range. I think what we have achieved at Bell over the last many decades, we're on our fifth generation of tiltrotor. We have over 850,000 hours of tiltrotor experience on the V-22 that has been built into this. I think it's only good for the future warfighter to have tiltrotor capabilities and you're seeing this broadly accepted across the industry. I think our experience that we have and what we've done with the MV-75, you may know this, we flew this first in 2017 with our demonstrator, the V-280. We flew it autonomously in 2019 on that demonstrator. About 10 years ago, we actually have on the design board what we call the V-247, which is a fully autonomous tiltrotor.

We also have the X-76 program that we're working with DARPA SPRINT, which is a tiltrotor that converts to a jet. I think it's only positive for the industry to fully grasp and appreciate the need for range and speed for the future warfighter and frankly, runway independence, which is key to how they operate.

Got it. Thank you. Our next question will come from the line of Ron Epstein with Bank of America.

Please go ahead. Yeah. Hey, good morning, everyone, and thanks for the question.

Maybe I have a question and a follow-up. On the production efficiency, Lisa, Cessna's made a lot of airplanes over the years, so I always kind of get befuddled by there has to be a change in the process or whatever. Aerospace learning curves tend to be what, sort of a 15% learning curve, or you double volume, you get more efficient by 15%. What's changed? When you look at the company from your seat now, and you look at what's going on in Wichita, what's different, or what's changed that makes you feel like you can get more out of that business? I agree with you completely. It seems like you can. What haven't they been doing over all these years they've been building all these airplanes?

Yeah, look, I think there's a complexity issue there. If we build, counting up, maybe 21 or 22 different type models across aviation, I think that has increased over the last several years. We're looking to make sure that we do those all very well. I think what you saw significantly that's changed is, about five, six years ago, the workforce turnover that occurred. That is the aspect of it that we really have to focus on, and it's not just at Cessna and Beechcraft, it's also out in our supply base. They also had that same workforce turnover. When those suppliers don't give us, say, an engine or a spar or a hydraulic unit, that impacts the out-of-station work that that newer workforce is not used to doing the workarounds.

I think that's where we really have to lean in on this career learning center. We really have to lean in on training our supervisors, because they're dealing with a younger workforce coming through there, and look, I think we'll get there. I think the industry will get there, but it's going to take us being very diligent and focused on getting them there. It's something I feel very passionate about, of making sure that we lean into our workforce.

Got you. Then maybe just a follow-up to, or an extension of John's question. I've spoken to some other people at Textron about this before in the past. You guys have Aerion, you've got Pipistrel, which got the Voyager. Cessna does the Skyhawk and the Skylane. How much do you guys do in unmanned systems? Seems pretty limited given the toolkit that you have. One would think with all the bits and pieces that you have across all those different businesses, that you guys could be dominating unmanned systems, particularly if you think about maybe some of the larger category 3 or 4 drones, that kind of thing, that seemingly, with limited investment, you all could be a real dominator there because you have all the technology under your roof. It just seems like you have to put it together in different ways.

I'm just curious how you think about that, and particularly as you lean into Textron becoming more of a defense and aerospace player.

You're hitting on some key strategic issues that we're going to have to take a look at and address, and I think moving to a more pure-play aerospace and defense company is going to allow us to do that. We are initiating a lot more, I'll say, crosstalk and engineering design across the business. What we've got across the various portfolio, I think we've worked on this, I think in the fly-by-wire aspect of this. That is an evidence of what we're doing in order to bring to bear what we can do across all of Textron underneath our own roof. You raise the exact right point. We should be leaning into this where it makes sense in the higher end of unmanned air vehicles. I think that's one thing you'll see me push towards the higher end, not the group 1s and group 2s.

I think there's a lot of capability there across the company that we need to lean into.

One would think an unmanned Skyhawk, fantastic. Just such a robust vehicle and has volume, you could do seemingly with it, if we're to presume that you could do something pretty cool with it. Anyway, just a thought. Yeah.

No, thanks. We'll take that back to the team. There's a lot there, and I think we can do across the company.

Yeah. Thank you very much.

Yep. Our next question will come from the line of Kristine Liwag with Morgan Stanley.

Please go ahead. Hey, good morning, everyone.

Lisa, maybe following up on Ron's question here. When you think about the DoD, the DoW, and the emphasis on speed of capability and more iterative acquisition approaches, we're also hearing some of your peers move quicker by using existing platforms and technology to deliver integrated solutions more quickly. I guess, from your comment to Ron's question, it sounds like you've got opportunities to combine existing platforms, autonomy sensors, and mission systems for these kinds of requirements. I was wondering, as you think about potentially monetizing that or leaning into it, what's your appetite for more Textron-funded capabilities to get these solutions quicker? Are you seeing any movement in the customer's support for more company-funded R&D to get to market faster?

Yeah, Kristine. Look, we've talked about this, frankly, with the customer pretty regularly. I'll say a significant portion of the research and development that we do across all of Textron actually does exactly what you're saying. Frankly, I feel like we've been leaning into that for probably the last 15 to 16 years. We are where we are with the MV-75 because of the investment that we made in our own company and our own technology. We are where we are with the Advanced Reconnaissance Vehicle because we made investments as a company into those capabilities. I think we're going to continue to do that. We'll continue to watch what the requirements and needs are from the military, and try to match that very quickly. We are a commercially-minded company that can take that R&D and apply it to military applications.

I think we're going to continue to do that as we've demonstrated so far.

Great. Thank you, Lisa. Then with that, is there some sort of target that you would like to be regarding internally funded R&D? Is there a sweet spot for that initiative?

No, I think where we've been spending at this point, I think is the appropriate level of spend. Because we've seen it yield, I think we're in that right sweet spot right now.

Thank you. Our final question will come from the line of Doug Harned with Bernstein.

Please go ahead. Good morning.

Thank you. Lisa, last quarter you talked about at Aviation, getting to an equilibrium level in the sense of 200 jets per year. When you look toward that kind of goal, right now, do you see the issues, basically supply chain and some of the internal labor issues as if you could resolve those quickly in a sense, and I know it takes time, you could be at that 200 level. When you look at the gap, perhaps between what you can deliver and that goal, how does that affect, if at all, order flow coming in, given that there's a fairly long backlog there right now?

Yes, I think what you're seeing is that we started there with that number and then worked our way back to the initiatives that were required in order to meet that goal. What you're seeing us detail this quarter is the efforts that are being made in order to meet that stated goal of 200 a year. What we're seeing in the demand cycle is that we can definitely support that demand cycle at that level. These things need to line up, and what we're outlining this quarter is the steps that we're making in order to achieve that.

Is this something that is a step change upward in that goal, or is this more an evolution of things that have been happening for some time?

I think we always do, I'll say make buy decisions, as we look to be more efficient through the factories. Where we're really stepping it up is where we have seen things have highlighted or been illuminated through the factories. I'll take spars again as a key example. These are very critical components, and we need to not be limited by one supplier. We are being more diligent in finding those critical components and being more dual sourced in those areas. I think we have always done this, but we are taking a step up at where we can see critical components and where we can get dual supply source.

I'm guessing now, I think you said earlier, you're probably not going to give us a picture of when you expect to close that gap to the equilibrium level. Any sense on that? I think we're making great progress.

As we move towards the end of this year and we get into a guide for 2027, we'll talk to you about it back then.

Okay, great. Thank you very much.

That will conclude our question and answer session and our call today. Thank you all for joining.