A fundamental value of life at sea is ‘Don’t give up the ship,’ an axiom ingrained in sailors that all damage and problems aboard a vessel fall to the crew to fix.
But under modern contracting rules, some of the most critical systems on U.S. Navy ships, as well as major systems used by the Army, can only be fixed by defense contractors. When one of these systems breaks — whether a vital weapon or the machines that produce fresh water — sailors and soldiers may not have the tools, training or permission to fix them, due to the contracting rules under which the military cedes its “right to repair” systems to contractors who built them.
Many view this repair system as an Achilles’ heel for the U.S. military.
“I can tell you that when the shooting starts, sailors will have to keep their ships in the fight at sea because we can’t count on being able to bring civilian contractors onboard in a war zone,” a post-command Navy surface warfare officer captain told Task & Purpose.
That’s why the U.S. military and some lawmakers are both stepping up their focus on“right to repair”for weapons and other systems, ensuring that troops have the necessary tools, training and authorization to fix their own equipment, said Greg Williams, of the Project on Government Oversight, or POGO, a non-partisan watchdog group.
Two senators introduced a bill this week that would make “right to repair” a staple of military contracting, with rules requiring that future weapons systems be delivered with manuals, tools and access to parts and information that would make systems fixable by the military members who use them. Separately, the Senate Armed Services Committee has advanced its version of the fiscal year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act that also includes a “right to repair” provision, which would require defense contractors to “submit instructions for continued operational readiness necessary for operations, maintenance, installation, and training,” according to a summary of the bill that was released on Friday.
Good for cell phones, not weapons
A variety of equipment used by the military – from ships and aircraft to generators and handheld gear – is purchased with a warranty, and that means the manufacturer has the responsibility for making repairs, said Williams, director of POGO’s Center for Defense Information.
“Now, that makes a lot of sense when, perhaps, you buy a car or a mobile phone,” Williams told Task & Purpose. “It does not make a lot of sense when you’re thousands of miles from home, potentially under fire; you have a piece of equipment you need either to succeed in your mission or simply to survive, and you want to be able to do whatever you can to repair that on the spot.”
Another issue is that servicemembers are not allowed to try to fix certain types of equipment because the U.S. military does not own the intellectual property rights to it, Williams said.
But the U.S. military wants service members to perform more types of repairs. In April, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a memo ordering sweeping reforms to the Army, including directing the service to include “right to repair” provisions in existing contracts and ensure such provisions are part of future contracts.
While the Army has a general “right to repair” its gear, soldiers face certain restrictions when fixes involve proprietary systems, advanced electronics, and software that is protected by intellectual property laws, or if making such repairs would void the warranty, said Army spokesperson Elias Chelala.
“Commanders often prefer having their soldiers perform basic and intermediate repairs to reduce downtime and increase operational readiness,” Chelala told Task & Purpose. “This includes diagnostics, component-level replacements, mechanical repairs, and preventative maintenance tasks in the field.”
Granting soldiers and sailors access to the tools, manuals, and software needed to repair more types of equipment would both increase their autonomy and sharpen their skills, he said. This would also require soldiers to undergo more training on using diagnostic tools, troubleshooting software systems, and repairing complex systems to avoid damage and injuries.
The Navy operates many aircraft, weapons systems, and critical ship systems that either require flying contractors to the ship for repairs or making the fixes when the ship is in port, said Capt. Ron Flanders, a spokesperson for the office of the assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition.
Sailors and Marines do not have the technical manuals or diagnostic capability to repair those items, which include helicopters, jets, radar systems, guns, fire control systems, reverse-osmosis water filtration systems, and even ovens, Flanders told Task & Purpose.
“Navy commanders would much prefer that sailors be given the technical manuals and diagnostics capabilities they need to perform maintenance on all manner of combat systems,” Flanders said.
Flanders added that he is confident that sailors would be able to take care of systems currently serviced by contractors if they were provided with the necessary technical manuals and diagnostic tools.
“Rapid, effective maintenance is a warfighting imperative,” Flanders said. “This is especially true in contested logistics environments, where self-sufficiency will be required. “
New law would require Right To Repair
Toward that end, a bill introduced by Sens Sheehy and Warren, in at least one sense, captures the bipartisan consensus on the right to repair. Sheehy is a former Navy SEAL and staunch Donald Trump supporter while Warren is a leading Democrat who has championed consumer protections for over a decade, including right to repairs issues for heavy farm equipment. Along with dictating terms to defense contractors, their bill would also require the defense secretary to conduct a review to modify contracts to remove any intellectual property barriers that prevent service members from repairing equipment.
“It’s about time we stand up to Pentagon contractors that are squeezing every last cent from us at the expense of our national security,” Warren said in a statement to Task & Purpose
“Our warfighters – and the American public – deserve better, and I’m proud to lead this bipartisan legislation to streamline bloated bureaucracy, increase competition, and provide our warfighters with the quality and quantity of equipment they need to win the next fight,” Sheehy said in a statement to Task & Purpose.
Williams said the underlying reason why troops are prohibited from making certain repairs is that maintaining equipment is “a very profitable business” for defense industry.
“I think it’s important to recognize that we spend tens of billions of dollars annually on these types of repairs, and eventually that could be done a lot less expensively by our people in uniform and by civilian defense employees,” Williams said. “They generally cost about one third the hourly or annual rate of a contractor.”
While it will cost money to train service members to fix equipment that currently must be repaired by contractors, Wiliams said, “You either pay that expense, or you pay the expense if they’re not able to get their equipment fixed when a mission is underway.”
Not only do current constraints prevent troops from making repairs under “dire circumstances,” but they also mean that service members cannot practice fixing equipment when they are not in danger, Williams said. This also means that service members need to wait for contactors to arrive to make necessary repairs.
“Just in case it’s illustrative, I don’t know if you’re a ‘Star Trek’ fan, but you can probably picture Captain Kirk calling down to engineering to ask Scotty how quickly he’s going to repair something,” Williams said. “Now keep imagining if Scotty’s answer was: ‘Well it will take three weeks for the contractor to get here at Warp 4. Until then, we can’t touch it.’”
UPDATE: 07/11/2024; this story was updated with information about a right to repair provision in the Senate version of the fiscal year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act.
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