Pentagon contractors want to undermine the military’s right to repair

Military contractors are trying to thwart a widely supported right-to-repair provision in the annual defense policy bill — and their efforts may be paying off. A source familiar with the negotiations says Edge There are significant concerns that the right-to-repair language in the bill would be replaced by a “data-as-a-service” model, which would require the Department of Defense to pay for access to equipment repair information.

Language used by Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Tim Sheehy (R-Mich.) for the Veteran’s Right to Repair Act made it into the Pentagon’s annual policy bill, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which passed Senate in October. This provision would give all branches of the military the ability to repair their own equipment, while requiring contractors to provide the information necessary to make repairs.

Senator Warren has begun sounding the alarm about the potential Outside influence earlier this month. The National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA), a trade group for major Department of Defense contractors, Published a white paper This includes data support as a service, which it says could “allow the Department of Defense to contract for access to a contractor’s entire technical data library on a ‘pay-per-use’ basis” to protect contractors’ intellectual property. The proposed language appears to reflect what Reps. Mike Rogers (R-Ill.) and Adam Smith (D-Wash.), who chair the House Armed Services Committee, explained in Their law of speedrequiring the Department of Defense to negotiate “data-as-a-service solutions to facilitate access” to repair tools and information.

Likewise, Eric Fanning, president and CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) — a trade group that supports companies that make aircraft — he argued in an op-ed in November The right-to-repair clause would harm contractors by forcing them to “turn over their intellectual property,” As I mentioned earlier Roll Cole. Defense contractors, represented by trade groups such as the NDIA and AIA, are putting pressure on the heavyweights. As Rossman pointed out, Representative Rogers Receive more More than $535,000 from the defense industry in 2024, while Rep. Smith said Received more $310,550.

The final version of the National Defense Authorization Act is expected to be released early next week.