Personal Injury Actions and Other — Product and general liability claims are made against the Company from time to time in the ordinary course of business. The Company is generally self-insured for future claims up to $5.0 million per claim and a reserve is maintained for the estimated costs of such claims. At December 31, 2023 and 2022, the estimated net liabilities for product and general liability claims totaled $50.1 million and $41.2 million, respectively. There is inherent uncertainty as to the eventual resolution of unsettled claims. Management, however, believes that any losses in excess of established reserves will not have a material effect on the Company’s financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

Market Risks — The Company was contingently liable under bid, performance and specialty bonds totaling $2.58 billion and $2.04 billion at December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. Open standby letters of credit issued by the Company’s banks in favor of third parties totaled $18.2 million and $18.8 million at December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively.

Other Matters — The Company is subject to environmental matters and legal proceedings and claims, including patent, antitrust, product liability, warranty and state dealership regulation compliance proceedings that arise in the ordinary course of business. Although the final results of such matters and claims cannot be predicted with certainty, management believes that the ultimate resolution will not have a material effect on the Company’s financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. Actual results could vary, among other things, due to the uncertainties involved in litigation.

At December 31, 2023, approximately 19% of the Company’s workforce was covered under collective bargaining agreements.

The Company derived a significant portion of its revenue from the DoD, as follows (in millions):


	Year Ended December 31,				(transition period) Three Months Ended December 31,		Year Ended September 30,
	2023		2022		2021		2021
DoD	$	1,664.8	$	1,995.8	$	521.2	$	2,395.1
Foreign military sales		156.6		76.2		0.5		139.2
Total DoD sales	$	1,821.4	$	2,072.0	$	521.7	$	2,534.3

Certain risks are inherent in doing business with the DoD, including technological changes and changes in levels of defense spending. All DoD contracts contain a provision that they may be terminated at any time at the convenience of the U.S. government. In such an event, the Company is entitled to recover allowable costs plus a reasonable profit earned to the date of termination. Major contracts for military systems are performed over extended periods of time and are subject to changes in scope of work and delivery schedules. Pricing negotiations on changes and settlement of claims often extend over prolonged periods of time. The Company’s ultimate profitability on such contracts may depend on the eventual outcome of an equitable settlement of contractual issues with the Company’s customers.

Because the Company is a relatively large defense contractor, the Company’s U.S. government contract operations are subject to extensive annual audit processes and to U.S. government investigations of business practices and cost classifications from which legal or administrative proceedings can result. Based on U.S. government procurement regulations, under certain circumstances the Company could be fined, as well as suspended or debarred from U.S. government contracting. During a suspension or debarment, the Company would also be prohibited from selling equipment or services to customers that depend on loans or financial commitments from the Export-Import Bank, Overseas Private Investment Corporation and similar U.S. government agencies.