Engines That Fly for Forty YearsWide moat

GE Aerospace (GE) — moat facet

The F110 was certified before most of the people maintaining it were born, and is still being ordered.

The defence business is the clearest illustration in the company of how long an aerospace franchise lasts once it is won.

Defence engine deliveries55620234902024635202512.3%DPT margin 2025 %Platforms include the F110, F404, F414, T408, T700, T901 and LM2500, several in service four decades.
Rising unit volume on forty-year-old platforms is a franchise that renews itself rather than runs out.

GE Aerospace's significant defence platforms are the F110, F404 and F414 for combat engines, the T408, T700 and T901 for rotorcraft, and the LM2500 for mobility and marine applications1. Several have been in production and service for four decades and remain in current procurement: the 2025 Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract from the US Air Force, valued up to $5 billion, supports foreign military sales of F110-GE-129 engines powering F-15 and F-16 aircraft operated by allied nations worldwide2.

That is the moat in its purest form. An F-16 built in 1985 and still flying today has been overhauled many times, and every overhaul has used GE parts, because the engine is certified as installed and the aircraft cannot take another. Nations that operate these aircraft are locked into the supply chain for as long as the fleet flies, which is measured in decades and is frequently extended.

The renewal mechanism is also visible. The T901 achieved first flight on a Black Hawk helicopter in 20253, replacing the T700 on a rotorcraft fleet that has flown since the 1970s — a forty-year franchise handing over to its successor within the same family.

What the longevity does not buy is margin. These are the platforms earning 12.3%4. Duration and profitability are separate questions, and defence has the first without much of the second.

Defence engine deliveries are published: 556 in 2023, 490 in 2024, 635 in 20255. Rising unit volume on forty-year-old platforms is the signature of a franchise that renews itself rather than one that is running out.

Moat trajectory: Holding steady

Defence engine deliveries went 556, 490, 635 across three years on platforms that have been in service for four decades, and the T901 achieved first flight on a Black Hawk in 2025. Franchises this old neither widen nor narrow; they renew or they do not.

The number that tests this moat
Reported
Defence engine deliveries
635 in 2025, from 490 and 556

Rising unit volume on platforms certified four decades ago — F110, F404, F414, T408, T700, T901, LM2500 — is the signature of a franchise that renews itself. The T901 achieved first flight on a Black Hawk in 2025, replacing a T700 fleet flying since the 1970s.

Source: GE Aerospace Form 10-K, fiscal year 2025 ↗
⚠ Threats to the moat
⚠ THREAT 01
A Programme Cancelled Is a Franchise Gone
A forty-year franchise is won in a single procurement decision and lost the same way.
References
  1. ReportedGE Aerospace's significant defence platforms are the F110, F404 and F414 for combat engines, the T408, T700 and T901 for rotorcraft, and the LM2500 for mobility and marine applications.
    GE Aerospace Form 10-K, FY2025 - Item 1 Business — segment descriptions for Commercial Engines & Services and Defense & Propulsion Technologies, the CFM International 50-50 non-consolidated joint venture with Safran Aircraft Engines, the commercial engine platforms (LEAP, CFM56, GEnx, GE9X, CF6, GE90), the defence platforms (F110, F404, F414, T408, T700, T901, LM2500), the Propulsion & Additive Technologies brands, the CFM RISE programme, the customer description including airframers and sole-source positions, and the segment revenue and services shares. — FY2025 · publ. January 2026 · source ↗
  2. ReportedSeveral have been in production and service for four decades and remain in current procurement: the 2025 Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract from the US Air Force, valued up to $5 billion, supports foreign military sales of F110-GE-129 engines powering F-15 and F-16 aircraft operated by allied nations worldwide.
    GE Aerospace Form 10-K, FY2025 - Segment Operations — Defense & Propulsion Technologies: segment revenue split between Defense & Systems and Propulsion & Additive Technologies, equipment and services revenue, segment profit and margin, defence engine unit deliveries, the DPT remaining performance obligation, the US Air Force F110-GE-129 Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract valued up to $5 billion, the Hindustan Aeronautics F404-GE-IN20 order valued at $1.6 billion, and the government-funding discussion. — FY2025 · publ. January 2026 · source ↗
  3. ReportedThe T901 achieved first flight on a Black Hawk helicopter in 2025, replacing the T700 on a rotorcraft fleet that has flown since the 1970s — a forty-year franchise handing over to its successor within the same family.
    GE Aerospace Form 10-K, FY2025 - Item 1 Business — segment descriptions for Commercial Engines & Services and Defense & Propulsion Technologies, the CFM International 50-50 non-consolidated joint venture with Safran Aircraft Engines, the commercial engine platforms (LEAP, CFM56, GEnx, GE9X, CF6, GE90), the defence platforms (F110, F404, F414, T408, T700, T901, LM2500), the Propulsion & Additive Technologies brands, the CFM RISE programme, the customer description including airframers and sole-source positions, and the segment revenue and services shares. — FY2025 · publ. January 2026 · source ↗
  4. ReportedThese are the platforms earning 12.3%.
    GE Aerospace Form 10-K, FY2025 - Segment Operations — Defense & Propulsion Technologies: segment revenue split between Defense & Systems and Propulsion & Additive Technologies, equipment and services revenue, segment profit and margin, defence engine unit deliveries, the DPT remaining performance obligation, the US Air Force F110-GE-129 Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract valued up to $5 billion, the Hindustan Aeronautics F404-GE-IN20 order valued at $1.6 billion, and the government-funding discussion. — FY2025 · publ. January 2026 · source ↗
  5. ReportedDefence engine deliveries are published: 556 in 2023, 490 in 2024, 635 in 2025.
    GE Aerospace Form 10-K, FY2025 - Segment Operations — Defense & Propulsion Technologies: segment revenue split between Defense & Systems and Propulsion & Additive Technologies, equipment and services revenue, segment profit and margin, defence engine unit deliveries, the DPT remaining performance obligation, the US Air Force F110-GE-129 Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract valued up to $5 billion, the Hindustan Aeronautics F404-GE-IN20 order valued at $1.6 billion, and the government-funding discussion. — FY2025 · publ. January 2026 · source ↗
Sources
Generated September 23, 2026