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US officials have called for greater power for the military to conduct repairs on its own equipment under a potentially widespread “right to repair” policy.
US Navy Secretary John Phelan, speaking during a Senate armed services committee hearing at Capitol Hill on 10 June, affirmed that the current situation of waiting for contractor repair support was unsustainable.
A “right to repair” policy would allow military personnel, trained on hardware systems, to then repair those systems rather than waiting for manufacturer repair services. Service members are often reportedly prevented from such repair work due to intellectual property rights.
“I am a huge supporter of ‘right to repair’ … I went on the carrier (USS Gerald R Ford); they had eight ovens, this is a ship that serves 15,300 meals a day (and) only two were working. Six were out (for repair),” Phelan told the hearing.
“(When the elevators stop working) they have to come out and diagnose the problem, and then they’ll fix it … It is crazy. We should be able to fix this.”
Phelan further expressed frustration that sailors could fix equipment, such as the carrier ovens, but weren’t allowed to do so and instead had to await a contractor to do the work.
“We end up paying for a lot of things that we don’t control, and we need to change that,” he said.
“And, so, contracting, in general, is something we’re looking at very hard, and we need to really try to ensure going forward we control our IP, and we have the ability to fix things because if we’re in a fight, how do we ... fix it then?”
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has previously issued guidance in April this year directing the US Army to attempt “right to repair” provisions in existing and future contracts.
In addition, US Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll, speaking to a House armed services committee in June this year, confirmed that the US Army is changing its approach to repair policy.
“On a go-forward basis, we have been directed to not sign any contracts that don’t give us a right to repair,” Driscoll said.
“On a go-back basis, we have been directed to go and do what we can to go get that right to repair.
“We hope that anyone listening to us who hopes to pitch us a contract going forward will look back at their previous agreements they’ve signed with us, and if they’re unwilling to give us that right to repair, I think we’re going to have a hard time negotiating with them.”
