September 26, 2024

Warren Leads Charge to Protect Military Readiness, Takes on Defense Contractors Seeking to Block the Military’s Right to Repair Its Weapons and Equipment

Defense industry effort to “block DoD’s right-to-repair has no national security rationale: instead, it appears to be based on simple corporate greed.”

“When service members are stationed across the world, including in a combat situation, and need to repair a piece of equipment in a contested logistics environment, they should not have to rely on a company thousands of miles away to fix it on the contractor’s timeline.”

Text of Letter to DoD (PDF) | Text of Letter to Defense Contractor Associations (PDF)

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today sent two letters regarding the costly restrictions imposed on the Department of Defense that bar the military from repairing its own military equipment and instead force it to pay billions of dollars extra to military contractors. Senator Warren’s first letter was sent to DoD, urging the Department to take action to address these restrictions. Her second letter blasted profit-driven attacks from the defense industry for its opposition to a commonsense provision in the Senate fiscal year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (FY25 NDAA) that received broad bipartisan support and would make it easier for the military to repair its own equipment.

DoD pays hundreds of billions of dollars annually to purchase weapons systems and other equipment for use by the U.S. military from contractors. However, the equipment is often subject to contractor-imposed restrictions on diagnosis, repair, and maintenance, leaving servicemembers unable to conduct necessary fixes over the life of the equipment. If servicemembers do attempt their own repairs, they risk contractors not providing access to crucial tools or data, or voiding the equipment’s warranty. 

These restrictions give contractors tremendous power over maintenance and repair of equipment, which can make up as much as 70 percent of the overall cost of a program. Contractors are incentivized to continue to keep a tight grip on maintenance and repair operations, which boost their profits.

Senator Warren’s provision in the Senate FY25 NDAA (Section 828) would make it easier for the military to repair its own equipment by requiring contractors to provide DoD with “fair and reasonable access” to repair materials, including necessary parts, tools, and information, potentially saving DoD billions and strengthening military readiness. The provision was included after a robustly bipartisan vote. 

But certain dominant defense contractors, seeing their profits threatened, have fought to block the bipartisan language, leading a letter to Committee leaders asking that this provision be stripped from the final bill. 

“Congress, DoD, and the public deserve transparency about why your associations oppose DoD’s fair and reasonable access to repair materials,” wrote Senator Warren. 

Senator Warren requested answers from contractors about their opposition to ensuring DoD has fair and reasonable access to repair materials by October 11, 2024. 

Senator Warren’s letter to DoD highlights powerful examples of situations in which service members were unable to repair critical equipment, such as Marines stationed in Japan who were forced to ship engines back to contractors in the U.S. for repairs even though they had the tools to fix them themselves, and military personnel who had to fly General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin contractors to a Littoral Combat Ship at sea and escort them while on board because the companies considered certain repair data “proprietary.” The letter expresses the need for DoD to resolve these right-to-repair issues, and requests answers about their efforts to address repair restrictions by October 11, 2024. 

Senator Warren has repeatedly sought to bolster competition and fight back against costly right-to-repair restrictions: 

  • In July 2024, Senator Elizabeth Warren included a provision in the Senate Fiscal Year 2025 NDAA that would require contractors to provide DoD with “fair and reasonable” access to repair materials.
  • In August 2023, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey (D-Mass.), celebrated the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reversing course and allowing enforcement of Massachusetts’ pro-consumer Right to Repair law. 
  • In June 2023, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) called on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to reverse its course after it sent a recent letter to auto manufacturers, advising them not to comply with Massachusetts’ Right to Repair law. 
  • In February 2022, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Angus King (I-Maine), and Congressman Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) urged the Department of Health and Human Services to move forward with the march-in petition submitted for the prostate cancer drug Xtandi.
  • In July 2021, Senator Warren and Representative Doggett sent a letter to the Department of Defense requesting information about steps taken to reduce costs of DoD-funded prescription drugs and medical products.

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