U.S. soldiers assigned to Task Force Saber, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade as CH-47 Helicopter Repairers work to replace a rotor blade on a CH-47 Chinook helicopter as part of the Joint Pacific Readiness Center Exportable Exercise at Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija, Philippines, April 10, 2026. (Olivia Cowart/U.S. Army)
A Democrat and Republican are vowing to fight “tooth and nail” to ensure troops are given the right to repair their own equipment after the authority was removed from last year’s defense policy bill.
Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., successfully included “right to repair” provisions in the Senate Armed Service Committee’s draft of this year’s National Defense Authorization Act and said they will push for them to stay.
The measures are expected to face fierce resistance from the defense industry, which lobbied for their removal last year.
The provisions would force companies to share parts and technical data, allow the military to contract with third-party companies to perform repairs during wartime and contingency operations and limit companies’ ability to claim restrictions on information.
“It’s common sense that our military should have the right to repair its own equipment — that’s why right to repair is supported by the Trump White House, the Secretary of War, the Secretary of the Army, entrepreneurs, small businesses, veterans, and service members,” Warren and Sheehy said in a joint statement Monday.
Lawmakers have argued for years that service members should be able to fix and maintain their own equipment without waiting weeks and months for a defense contractor to perform repairs, as is often stipulated in weapons contracts.
The reliance on corporate entities for fixes has led to unnecessary delays and high repair costs, lawmakers and Pentagon officials have said.
Adm. Daryl Caudle, the chief of naval operations, told the Senate Armed Services Committee last year that things constantly break on ships and giving sailors the right to repair them was “vital.”
“It is so ridiculous that sailors cannot actually enter a piece of equipment because of a contractual reason, a warranty violation,” he said. “It goes right to the heart of what we call self-sufficiency. So, I don’t like it in peacetime, and I certainly do not want it in wartime.”
Industry pushback to the committee’s latest effort to provide that authority has been swift. The Aerospace Industries Association warned last week that sharing technical data would “disincentivize the very investment and innovation the industrial base depends on.”
“We appreciate the committee’s work and stand ready to partner on targeted, practical solutions,” the trade group said.
The House Armed Services Committee has also included right-to-repair provisions in its draft of the defense policy bill but they could be dropped as the Senate and House negotiate on a final version of the legislation, as was the case last year.
