Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
[Operator Instructions]. Our first question is coming from John Inch with Merrill Lynch.
John Inch - Merrill Lynch
I want to go back to asbestos. I mean from where I'm sitting, it's a little hard to believe that in September you sort of went radio silent because of the way an asbestos charge. It just seems like a little bit of a red herring. Were you working on a deal that didn't go through or is there still some other backdrop as to why events in the quarter kind of played out the way they did with respect to investor communications?
Steve Loranger
It shouldn't be hard to believe at all. Obviously, once we understand that an accounting charge could be material, as you well know from FD, we were prohibited from any selective disclosures of that information to investors. I think you need to respect that. But you have to also understand that if we did talk to investors and didn't mention these processes, we could later be accused of having some misleading communications.
So, obviously, the most prudent course was to enter a quiet period while this asbestos liability was being finalized. Let me make a broader comment with respect to the intimation underlying your question, John.
John Inch - Merrill Lynch
Sure.
Steve Loranger
Notwithstanding this quiet period, you know as a matter of policy, we don't comment on rumors or speculation. Even though, we were aware that there was some misguided speculation out there during the past few weeks of the quiet period, we did not feel inclined at all to comment.
Now I can say that today, we're not in a quiet period and I want to say, today, that the only reason we extended our blackout period beyond that normal timing was because we were in the process of completing our work on the projected asbestos liabilities that we just announced.
John Inch - Merrill Lynch
Can we switch then to defense? Book-to –bills, $0.81, it's really sort of a two part question in defense. So with the trend of book-to-bill, Steve and Denise, and I guess SINCGARS is down 13%, why do you feel still good about the trajectory of the business? Is it because of the $ billion or just maybe a little bit of color, because obviously the book-to-bill peaked right a year ago. Do you still expect it to kind of move in this trajectory or how would you like us to think about it?
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