Is the deprecation expense on the income statement a non cash expense?

Correct. When a long-term tangible asset is purchased (e.g., property, plants and equipment), the Matching Principle under GAAP requires expenses to be systematically matched with the periods in which the corresponding revenues are generated. All depreciation expense does is systematically expense the asset over the period of its useful life. The useful life of the asset has nothing to do with when cash was actually paid for the asset.