Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2023
Accounting Policies [Abstract]
Segment Reporting	Advanced Sensing and Computing (“ASC”) The Advanced Sensing and Computing (“ASC”) segment designs, develops and manufactures sensing and network computing technology that enables real-time situational awareness required for enhanced operational decision making and execution by our customers. Our leading sensing capabilities span applications including missions requiring advanced detection, precision targeting and surveillance sensing, long range electro-optic/infrared (“EO/IR”), signals intelligence (“SIGINT”) and other intelligence systems, electronic warfare (“EW”), ground vehicle sensing, next generation active electronically scanned array (“AESA”) tactical radars, dismounted soldier sensing and space sensing. Across our offering, we are focused on advancing sensor distance, precision, clarity, definition, spectral depth and effectiveness. Furthermore, we seek to leverage our multi-decade experience to optimize size, weight, power and cost tailored to our customers’ specific mission requirements. Our sensing capabilities are complemented by our rugged, trusted and cyber resilient network computing products. Our network computing offering is utilized across a broad range of mission applications including platform computing on ground and shipboard (both surface ship and submarine) for advanced battle management, combat systems, radar, command and control (“C2”), tactical networks, tactical computing and communications. Our network computing products support the DoD’s need for greater situational understanding at the tactical edge and permits data to be rapidly transmitted securely from command centers to forward-positioned defense assets. Integrated Mission Systems (“IMS”) Our Integrated Mission Systems (“IMS”) segment designs, develops, manufactures and integrates power conversion, control and distribution systems, ship propulsion systems, motors and variable frequency drives, force protection systems, transportation and logistics systems for the U.S. and allied defense customers. Our naval power and propulsion systems are providing next-generation power capabilities for the future fleet. DRS is currently a leading provider of next-generation electrical propulsion systems for the U.S. Navy. We provide power conversion, control, distribution and propulsion systems for the Navy’s top priority shipbuilding programs, including the Columbia Class ballistic missile submarine, the first modern U.S. electric drive submarine. We believe DRS is well positioned to meet the needs of an increasingly electrified fleet with our high-efficiency, power dense permanent magnet motors, energy storage systems and associated efficient, rugged and compact power conversion, electrical actuation systems, and advanced cooling technologies. DRS has a long history of providing a number of other critical products to the U.S. Navy with a significant installed base on submarines, aircraft carriers and other surface ships including motor controllers, instrumentation and control equipment, electrical actuation systems, and thermal management systems for electronics and ship stores refrigeration. Our technologies and systems help protect U.S. forces and assets against increasingly sophisticated and proliferating threats. DRS is an integrator of systems in ground vehicles for short-range air defense, counter-UAS (“C-UAS”), and vehicle survivability and protection. This integrator role includes utilizing radars, EW equipment, reconnaissance and surveillance systems, modular combat vehicle turrets, and stabilized sensor suites, and kinetic countermeasures for short-range air defense. Our force protection systems, including solutions for counter-unmanned aerial systems (C-UAS), short-range air defense systems and active protection systems used to defend ground combat vehicles help protect personnel and defense assets from these growing threats. Other The Company separately presents the unallocable costs associated with corporate functions and certain non-operating subsidiaries of the Company as Corporate & Eliminations.
Basis of Presentation	Basis of presentation The accompanying unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) and include the accounts of DRS, its wholly owned subsidiaries and its controlling interests and contain all adjustments, which are of a normal and recurring nature, considered necessary by management to present fairly the financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the periods presented. Interests in ventures that are controlled by the Company, or for which the Company is otherwise deemed to be the primary beneficiary, are consolidated. For joint ventures in which the Company does not have a controlling interest, but exerts significant influence, the Company applies the equity method of accounting. All intercompany transactions and balances have been eliminated in consolidation. Certain prior year amounts have been reclassified to conform to current year presentation. Interim Financial Statements. The unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements have been prepared pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). These rules and regulations permit some of the information and footnote disclosures included in financial statements prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP to be condensed or omitted. These unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements should be read in conjunction with our audited Consolidated Financial Statements as of and for the year ended December 31, 2022 included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year end December 31, 2022, filed with the SEC on March 28, 2023.
New Accounting Pronouncements	New Accounting Pronouncements Disclosure of Supplier Finance Program Obligations In September 2022, the FASB issued ASU 2022-04, Liabilities – Supplier Finance Programs (Subtopic 405-50): Disclosure of Supplier Finance Program Obligations, which is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2022, including interim periods within those fiscal years. The adoption of this standard did not have a material impact on our financial statements.
Revenue from Contracts with Customers	The Company recognizes revenue for each separately identifiable performance obligation in a contract representing an obligation to transfer a distinct good or service to a customer. In most cases, goods and services provided under the Company’s contracts are accounted for as single performance obligations due to the complex and integrated nature of our products and services. These contracts generally require significant integration of a group of goods and/or services to deliver a combined output. In some contracts, the Company provides multiple distinct goods or services to a customer. In those cases, the Company accounts for the distinct contract deliverables as separate performance obligations and allocates the transaction price to each performance obligation based on its relative standalone selling price, which is generally estimated using cost plus a reasonable margin. We classify revenues as products or services on our Consolidated Statements of Earnings based on the predominant attributes of the performance obligations. While the Company provides warranties on certain contracts, we typically do not provide for services beyond standard assurances and therefore do not consider warranties to be separate performance obligations. Typically we enter into three types of contracts: fixed-price contracts, cost-plus contracts and time and material (“T&M”) contracts (cost-plus contracts and T&M contracts are aggregated below as flexibly priced contracts). The majority of our total revenues are derived from fixed-price contracts; refer to the revenue disaggregation disclosures that follow. For fixed-price contracts, customers agree to pay a fixed amount, negotiated in advanced for a specified scope of work. For cost-plus contracts, typically we are reimbursed for allowable or otherwise defined total costs (defined as cost of revenues plus allowable general and administrative expenses) incurred, plus a fee. The contracts may also include incentives for various performance criteria, including quality, timeliness and cost-effectiveness. In addition, costs are generally subject to review by clients and regulatory audit agencies, and such reviews could result in costs being disputed as non-reimbursable under the terms of the contract. T&M contracts provide for reimbursement of labor hours expended at a contractual fixed labor rate per hour, plus the actual costs of material and other direct non-labor costs. The fixed labor rates on T&M contracts include amounts for the cost of direct labor, indirect contract costs and profit. Revenue from contracts with customers is recognized when the performance obligations are satisfied through the transfer of control over the good or service to the customer, which may occur either over time or at a point in time. Revenues for the majority of our contracts are measured using the over time, percentage of completion cost-to-cost method of accounting to calculate percentage of completion. We believe this is an appropriate measure of progress toward satisfaction of performance obligations as this measure most accurately depicts the progress of our work and transfer of control to our customers. Due to the long-term nature of many of our contracts, developing the estimated total cost at completion and total transaction price often requires judgment. Factors that must be considered in estimating the cost of the work to be completed include the nature and complexity of the work to be performed, subcontractor performance and the risk and impact of delayed performance. After establishing the estimated total cost at completion, we follow a standard Estimate at Completion (“EAC”) process in which we review the progress and performance on our ongoing contracts on a routine basis. Adjustments to original estimates for a contract's revenue, estimated costs at completion and estimated profit or loss often are required as work progresses under a contract, as experience is gained and as more information is obtained, even though the scope of work required under the contract may not change and are also required if contract modifications occur. When adjustments in estimated total costs at completion or in estimated total transaction price are determined, the related impact on revenue and operating income are recognized using the cumulative catch-up method, which recognizes in the current period the cumulative effect of such adjustments for all prior periods. Any anticipated losses on these contracts are fully recognized in the period in which the losses become evident. Conversely, if the requirements for the recognition of contracts over time are not met, revenue is recognized at a point in time when control transfers to the customer, which is generally upon transfer of title. In such cases, the production that is in progress and costs that will be recognized at a future point in time are reported within “inventories”. Costs to obtain a contract are incremental direct costs incurred to obtain a contract with a customer, including sales commissions and dealer fees, and are capitalized if material. Costs to fulfill a contract include costs directly related to a contract or specific anticipated contract (e.g., certain design costs) that generate or enhance our ability to satisfy our performance obligations under these contracts. These costs are capitalized to the extent they are expected to be recovered from the associated contract. Contract Assets and Liabilities The timing of revenue recognition, billings and cash collections results in billed accounts receivable, unbilled receivables (contract assets), and customer advances and deposits (contract liabilities) on the Consolidated Balance Sheet. Amounts are billed as work progresses in accordance with agreed-upon contractual terms, either at periodic intervals (e.g., biweekly or monthly) or upon achievement of contractual milestones. Generally, billing occurs subsequent to revenue recognition, resulting in contract assets. However, we sometimes receive advances or deposits from our customers before revenue is recognized, resulting in contract liabilities. Contract assets related to amounts withheld by customers until contract completion are not considered a significant financing component of our contracts because the intent is to protect the customers from our failure to satisfactorily complete our performance obligations. Payments received from customers in advance of revenue recognition (contract liabilities) are not considered a significant financing component of our contracts because they are utilized to pay for contract costs within a one-year period or are requested by us to ensure the customers meet their payment obligations. Value of Remaining Performance Obligations The value of remaining performance obligations, which we also refer to as total backlog, includes the following components: •Funded - Funded backlog represents the revenue value of orders for services under existing contracts for which funding is appropriated or otherwise authorized less revenue previously recognized on these contracts. •Unfunded - Unfunded backlog represents the revenue value of firm orders for products and services under existing contracts for which funding has not yet been appropriated less funding previously recognized on these contracts.
Intangible Assets	Other intangible assets mainly refer to the fair value of existing customer contractual relationships attributable to the acquired business and patents which are being amortized over their respective lives. The fair value of intangible assets typically is determined, as of the date of acquisition, based on estimates and judgments regarding expectations for the estimated future after-tax earnings and cash flows (including cash flows for working capital) arising from backlog and follow-on sales to the customer over their estimated lives, including the probability of expected future contract renewals and sales, less a contributory assets charge, all of which is discounted to present value.
Pension and Other Postretirement Benefits	The Company maintains multiple pension plans, both contributory and non-contributory, covering employees at certain locations. Eligibility requirements for participation in the plans vary, and benefits generally are based on the participant's compensation and years of service, as defined in the respective plan. The Company's funding policy generally is to contribute in accordance with cost accounting standards that affect government contractors, subject to the Tax Code and regulations thereunder. For all periods presented, the Company made no discretionary pension contributions. Plan assets are invested primarily in equities, bonds (both corporate and U.S. government), U.S. government-sponsored entity instruments, cash and cash equivalents and real estate. The Company also provides postretirement medical benefits for certain retired employees and dependents at certain locations. Participants are eligible for these benefits when they retire from active service and meet the eligibility requirements for the Company's postretirement benefit plans. The Company's contractual arrangements with the U.S. government provide for the recovery of contributions to a Voluntary Employees' Beneficiary Association trust and, for non-funded plans, recovery of claims on a pay-as-you-go basis, subject to the Tax Code and regulations thereunder, with the retiree generally paying a portion of the costs through contributions, deductibles and coinsurance provisions. The Company also maintains certain non-contributory and unfunded supplemental retirement plans. Eligibility for participation in the supplemental retirement plans is limited, and benefits generally are based on the participant's compensation and/or years of service. The expected long-term return on plan assets assumption represents the average rate that the Company expects to earn over the long-term on the assets of the Company's benefit plans, including those from dividends, interest income and capital appreciation. The assumption has been determined based on expectations regarding future rates of return for the plans' investment portfolio, with consideration given to the allocation of investments by asset class and historical rates of return for each individual asset class.Pension related expenses are reflected in the Total costs of revenues and General and administrative expenses on the Consolidated Statement of Earnings (unaudited).

Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2023

Advanced Sensing and Computing (“ASC”)

The Advanced Sensing and Computing (“ASC”) segment designs, develops and manufactures sensing and network computing technology that enables real-time situational awareness required for enhanced operational decision making and execution by our customers.

Our leading sensing capabilities span applications including missions requiring advanced detection, precision targeting and surveillance sensing, long range electro-optic/infrared (“EO/IR”), signals intelligence (“SIGINT”) and other intelligence systems, electronic warfare (“EW”), ground vehicle sensing, next generation active electronically scanned array (“AESA”) tactical radars, dismounted soldier sensing and space sensing. Across our offering, we are focused on advancing sensor distance, precision, clarity, definition, spectral depth and effectiveness. Furthermore, we seek to leverage our multi-decade experience to optimize size, weight, power and cost tailored to our customers’ specific mission requirements.

Our sensing capabilities are complemented by our rugged, trusted and cyber resilient network computing products. Our network computing offering is utilized across a broad range of mission applications including platform computing on ground and shipboard (both surface ship and submarine) for advanced battle management, combat systems, radar, command and control (“C2”), tactical networks, tactical computing and communications. Our network computing products support the DoD’s need for greater situational understanding at the tactical edge and permits data to be rapidly transmitted securely from command centers to forward-positioned defense assets.

Integrated Mission Systems (“IMS”)

Our Integrated Mission Systems (“IMS”) segment designs, develops, manufactures and integrates power conversion, control and distribution systems, ship propulsion systems, motors and variable frequency drives, force protection systems, transportation and logistics systems for the U.S. and allied defense customers.

Our naval power and propulsion systems are providing next-generation power capabilities for the future fleet. DRS is currently a leading provider of next-generation electrical propulsion systems for the U.S. Navy. We provide power conversion, control, distribution and propulsion systems for the Navy’s top priority shipbuilding programs, including the Columbia Class ballistic missile submarine, the first modern U.S. electric drive submarine. We believe DRS is well positioned to meet the needs of an increasingly electrified fleet with our high-efficiency, power dense permanent magnet motors, energy storage systems and associated efficient, rugged and compact power conversion, electrical actuation systems, and advanced cooling technologies. DRS has a long history of providing a number of other critical products to the U.S. Navy with a significant installed base on submarines, aircraft carriers and other surface ships including motor controllers, instrumentation and control equipment, electrical actuation systems, and thermal management systems for electronics and ship stores refrigeration.

Our technologies and systems help protect U.S. forces and assets against increasingly sophisticated and proliferating threats. DRS is an integrator of systems in ground vehicles for short-range air defense, counter-UAS (“C-UAS”), and vehicle survivability and protection. This integrator role includes utilizing radars, EW equipment, reconnaissance and surveillance systems, modular combat vehicle turrets, and stabilized sensor suites, and kinetic countermeasures for short-range air defense. Our force protection systems, including solutions for counter-unmanned aerial systems (C-UAS), short-range air defense systems and active protection systems used to defend ground combat vehicles help protect personnel and defense assets from these growing threats.

Other

The Company separately presents the unallocable costs associated with corporate functions and certain non-operating subsidiaries of the Company as Corporate & Eliminations.

Basis of Presentation

Basis of presentation

The accompanying unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) and include the accounts of DRS, its wholly owned subsidiaries and its controlling interests and contain all adjustments, which are of a normal and recurring nature, considered necessary by management to present fairly the financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the periods presented. Interests in ventures that are controlled by the Company, or for which the Company is otherwise deemed to be the primary beneficiary, are consolidated. For joint ventures in which the Company does not have a controlling interest, but exerts significant influence, the Company applies the equity method of accounting. All intercompany transactions and balances have been eliminated in consolidation. Certain prior year amounts have been reclassified to conform to current year presentation.

Interim Financial Statements. The unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements have been prepared pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). These rules and regulations permit some of the information and footnote disclosures included in financial statements prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP to be condensed or omitted.

These unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements should be read in conjunction with our audited Consolidated Financial Statements as of and for the year ended December 31, 2022 included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year end December 31, 2022, filed with the SEC on March 28, 2023.

New Accounting Pronouncements

Disclosure of Supplier Finance Program Obligations

In September 2022, the FASB issued ASU 2022-04, Liabilities – Supplier Finance Programs (Subtopic 405-50): Disclosure of Supplier Finance Program Obligations, which is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2022, including interim periods within those fiscal years. The adoption of this standard did not have a material impact on our financial statements.

Revenue from Contracts with Customers

The Company recognizes revenue for each separately identifiable performance obligation in a contract representing an obligation to transfer a distinct good or service to a customer. In most cases, goods and services provided under the Company’s contracts are accounted for as single performance obligations due to the complex and integrated nature of our products and services. These contracts generally require significant integration of a group of goods and/or services to deliver a combined output. In some contracts, the Company provides multiple distinct goods or services to a customer. In those cases, the Company accounts for the distinct contract deliverables as separate performance obligations and allocates the transaction price to each performance obligation based on its relative standalone selling price, which is generally estimated using cost plus a reasonable margin. We classify

revenues as products or services on our Consolidated Statements of Earnings based on the predominant attributes of the performance obligations. While the Company provides warranties on certain contracts, we typically do not provide for services beyond standard assurances and therefore do not consider warranties to be separate performance obligations. Typically we enter into three types of contracts: fixed-price contracts, cost-plus contracts and time and material (“T&M”) contracts (cost-plus contracts and T&M contracts are aggregated below as flexibly priced contracts). The majority of our total revenues are derived from fixed-price contracts; refer to the revenue disaggregation disclosures that follow.

For fixed-price contracts, customers agree to pay a fixed amount, negotiated in advanced for a specified scope of work.

For cost-plus contracts, typically we are reimbursed for allowable or otherwise defined total costs (defined as cost of revenues plus allowable general and administrative expenses) incurred, plus a fee. The contracts may also include incentives for various performance criteria, including quality, timeliness and cost-effectiveness. In addition, costs are generally subject to review by clients and regulatory audit agencies, and such reviews could result in costs being disputed as non-reimbursable under the terms of the contract.

T&M contracts provide for reimbursement of labor hours expended at a contractual fixed labor rate per hour, plus the actual costs of material and other direct non-labor costs. The fixed labor rates on T&M contracts include amounts for the cost of direct labor, indirect contract costs and profit.

Revenue from contracts with customers is recognized when the performance obligations are satisfied through the transfer of control over the good or service to the customer, which may occur either over time or at a point in time.

Revenues for the majority of our contracts are measured using the over time, percentage of completion cost-to-cost method of accounting to calculate percentage of completion. We believe this is an appropriate measure of progress toward satisfaction of performance obligations as this measure most accurately depicts the progress of our work and transfer of control to our customers. Due to the long-term nature of many of our contracts, developing the estimated total cost at completion and total transaction price often requires judgment. Factors that must be considered in estimating the cost of the work to be completed include the nature and complexity of the work to be performed, subcontractor performance and the risk and impact of delayed performance.

After establishing the estimated total cost at completion, we follow a standard Estimate at Completion (“EAC”) process in which we review the progress and performance on our ongoing contracts on a routine basis. Adjustments to original estimates for a contract's revenue, estimated costs at completion and estimated profit or loss often are required as work progresses under a contract, as experience is gained and as more information is obtained, even though the scope of work required under the contract may not change and are also required if contract modifications occur. When adjustments in estimated total costs at completion or in estimated total transaction price are determined, the related impact on revenue and operating income are recognized using the cumulative catch-up method, which recognizes in the current period the cumulative effect of such adjustments for all prior periods. Any anticipated losses on these contracts are fully recognized in the period in which the losses become evident.

Conversely, if the requirements for the recognition of contracts over time are not met, revenue is recognized at a point in time when control transfers to the customer, which is generally upon transfer of title. In such cases, the

production that is in progress and costs that will be recognized at a future point in time are reported within “inventories”.

Costs to obtain a contract are incremental direct costs incurred to obtain a contract with a customer, including sales commissions and dealer fees, and are capitalized if material. Costs to fulfill a contract include costs directly related to a contract or specific anticipated contract (e.g., certain design costs) that generate or enhance our ability to satisfy our performance obligations under these contracts. These costs are capitalized to the extent they are expected to be recovered from the associated contract.

Contract Assets and Liabilities

The timing of revenue recognition, billings and cash collections results in billed accounts receivable, unbilled receivables (contract assets), and customer advances and deposits (contract liabilities) on the Consolidated Balance Sheet. Amounts are billed as work progresses in accordance with agreed-upon contractual terms, either at periodic intervals (e.g., biweekly or monthly) or upon achievement of contractual milestones. Generally, billing occurs subsequent to revenue recognition, resulting in contract assets. However, we sometimes receive advances or deposits from our customers before revenue is recognized, resulting in contract liabilities.

Contract assets related to amounts withheld by customers until contract completion are not considered a significant financing component of our contracts because the intent is to protect the customers from our failure to satisfactorily complete our performance obligations. Payments received from customers in advance of revenue recognition (contract liabilities) are not considered a significant financing component of our contracts because they are utilized to pay for contract costs within a one-year period or are requested by us to ensure the customers meet their payment obligations.

Value of Remaining Performance Obligations

The value of remaining performance obligations, which we also refer to as total backlog, includes the following components:

•Funded - Funded backlog represents the revenue value of orders for services under existing contracts for which funding is appropriated or otherwise authorized less revenue previously recognized on these contracts.

•Unfunded - Unfunded backlog represents the revenue value of firm orders for products and services under existing contracts for which funding has not yet been appropriated less funding previously recognized on these contracts.

Intangible Assets

Other intangible assets mainly refer to the fair value of existing customer contractual relationships attributable to the acquired business and patents which are being amortized over their respective lives. The fair value of intangible assets typically is determined, as of the date of acquisition, based on estimates and judgments regarding expectations for the estimated future after-tax earnings and cash flows (including cash flows for working capital) arising from backlog and follow-on sales to the customer over their estimated lives, including the probability of expected future contract renewals and sales, less a contributory assets charge, all of which is discounted to present value.

Pension and Other Postretirement Benefits

The Company maintains multiple pension plans, both contributory and non-contributory, covering employees at certain locations. Eligibility requirements for participation in the plans vary, and benefits generally are based on the participant's compensation and years of service, as defined in the respective plan. The Company's funding policy generally is to contribute in accordance with cost accounting standards that affect government contractors, subject to the Tax Code and regulations thereunder. For all periods presented, the Company made no discretionary pension contributions. Plan assets are invested primarily in equities, bonds (both corporate and U.S. government), U.S. government-sponsored entity instruments, cash and cash equivalents and real estate.

The Company also provides postretirement medical benefits for certain retired employees and dependents at certain locations. Participants are eligible for these benefits when they retire from active service and meet the eligibility requirements for the Company's postretirement benefit plans. The Company's contractual arrangements with the U.S. government provide for the recovery of contributions to a Voluntary Employees' Beneficiary Association trust and, for non-funded plans, recovery of claims on a pay-as-you-go basis, subject to the Tax Code and regulations thereunder, with the retiree generally paying a portion of the costs through contributions, deductibles and coinsurance provisions.

The Company also maintains certain non-contributory and unfunded supplemental retirement plans. Eligibility for participation in the supplemental retirement plans is limited, and benefits generally are based on the participant's compensation and/or years of service.

The expected long-term return on plan assets assumption represents the average rate that the Company expects to earn over the long-term on the assets of the Company's benefit plans, including those from dividends, interest income and capital appreciation. The assumption has been determined based on expectations regarding future rates of return for the plans' investment portfolio, with consideration given to the allocation of investments by asset class and historical rates of return for each individual asset class.Pension related expenses are reflected in the Total costs of revenues and General and administrative expenses on the Consolidated Statement of Earnings (unaudited).