“Our strong performance so far in 2024 extends beyond blast backlog as well giving us confidence to raise our 2024 full year outlook for sales, segment operating profit and EPS.”

In context

“latforms have again demonstrated their ability to enhance security in Eastern Europe, the Red Sea and the Middle East. From the PAC-3s critical role in air defense, to the Aegis Combat System with AI augmentation to the F-35 of this advanced sensor and data management capabilities, our company has made major contributions to Allied and Partner defense. We continue to demonstrate the impact of our 21st Century security strategy by harnessing the latest digital technologies to continuously improve mission effectiveness, strengthening and scaling defense production system, and expanding industrial cooperation among our allies and partners. Consequently, demand for our defense technology solutions remains robust, with a backlog of nearly $160 billion greater than two times our annual revenue. Our strong performance so far in 2024 extends beyond blast backlog as well giving us confidence to raise our 2024 full year outlook for sales, segment operating profit and EPS. In the second quarter, sales increased 9% year-over-year and 5% sequentially and reflected growth in all four of our business segments. The supply chain continues to improve and defense outlays also continue to increase. Our focus on operational execution helped us achieve segment operating margins of 11.3%, up 20 basis points compared to last year's second quarter and free cash flow of more than $1.5 billion, an increase both year-over-year and sequentially. Jay and Maria will talk more about the specifics of the quarterly results in a moment, but suffice it to say, we are pleased with our financial performance and momentum so far in 2024. I'm especially happy to report the progress we have made on the F-35 program. As announced last week, we began deliveries of the first Technology Refr”