Moog Inc. has taken preliminary steps to buy General Electric Co.’s flight control actuation product line in Great Britain, the Elma motion control equipment maker said today.

The GE Aviation Systems business, located in Wolverhampton, had about $100 million in sales last year, and would increase revenues in Moog’s $652 million aircraft segment by about 15 percent.

The companies have not signed a definitive purchase agreement, but Moog said one is expected to be reached shortly. The companies have started to make the filings needed to obtain regulatory approval for the deal.

The GE business makes primary and secondary flight control actuation systems for major commercial aircraft, including the Boeing 777 and 787, as well as the Airbus A330 and A380. Boeing is one of Moog’s largest customers, while the company has been expanding its relationship with Airbus in recent years.

The GE business also makes the primary flight controls for the Typhoon fighter jet in Europe and a main engine lift system for a version of the Rolls-Royce engine used on the U. S. Joint Strike Fighter, which also uses a significant amount of Moog equipment.

Moog, which had $1.8 billion in sales last year, said it has enough cash and sufficient borrowing capacity in its revolving credit lines to finance the acquisition. The companies did not provide any information about the terms of the deal.

GE acquired the Wolverhamption business as part of its acquisition of Smiths Aerospace in May 2007.

Moog has made six acquisitions since the economy and financial markets began to weaken significantly a year ago.

Moog in January paid $16 million to buy a 70 percent stake in Insensys Ltd., a British company that makes components used in wind turbines. That deal expanded the line of products that Moog makes for wind turbines, mainly equipment that stops and shuts down the turbines and also regulates their power output.

It also paid nearly $31 million in cash and debt to acquire the majority stake in German turbine components manufacturer LTi REEnergy GmbH that it did not already own. Moog had acquired 40 percent of the German business in 2008.

The company also bolstered its medical device group with the $21 million purchase of Aitecs Medical, a Lithuanian medical pump maker, just before New Year’s Day. It then acquired Ethox International in Buffalo in late January for $15.2 million in cash in a deal that Moog said will broaden its product line for disposable items used by the infusion pumps that it makes.

Moog also paid $45 million in February to buy Videolarm Inc., a Georgia company that makes cameras and surveillance system products.