Inventories (Narrative) (Details) (USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	Sep. 30, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011
Inventories [Line Items]
Long-term contracts in progress	$ 15,082	$ 13,587
Inventories, net of advances and progress billings	36,817	32,240
Capitalized precontract costs	204	1,728
Amounts credited in cash or other consideration (early issue sales consideration), to airline customers	2,908	2,564
Airplane Program 787 [Member]
Inventories [Line Items]
Inventory, work in process	20,728	16,098
Deferred production costs	14,275	10,753
Supplier advances	1,862	1,770
Unamortized tooling and other non-recurring costs	2,229	1,914
Deferred production, unamortized tooling and other nonrecurring costs to be recovered from firm orders at the balance sheet date	11,387
Deferred production, unamortized tooling and other nonrecurring costs to be recovered from future orders	5,117
Airplane Program 747 [Member]
Inventories [Line Items]
Deferred production costs	1,018	448
Unamortized tooling and other non-recurring costs	737	852
Deferred production, unamortized tooling and other nonrecurring costs to be recovered from firm orders at the balance sheet date	1,067
Deferred production, unamortized tooling and other nonrecurring costs to be recovered from future orders	688
ULA [Member]
Inventories [Line Items]
Long-term contracts in progress	785	1,085
Loss contingency, estimate of possible loss	35
ULA [Member] | Unsold Launches [Member]
Inventories [Line Items]
Long-term contracts in progress	534
A12 Program [Member]
Inventories [Line Items]
Inventories, net of advances and progress billings	$ 237	$ 236