A bipartisan proposal in the 2027 defense policy bill would require the Pentagon to secure technical data needed for maintenance and repairs, a change supporters say could save taxpayers billions and improve military readiness.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
A bipartisan effort to give the U.S. military more control over the data needed to repair its own weapons and equipment is moving through Congress, setting up a fight over defense contractor intellectual property, taxpayer costs and battlefield readiness.
Republican Rep. Pat Harrigan of North Carolina and Democratic Rep. Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire introduced an amendment to the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act that would strengthen the military’s right to repair equipment purchased with taxpayer money. Supporters say the current system forces the Defense Department to rely on contractors for maintenance information, creating delays, sole-source arrangements and higher costs.
The lack of repair rights could be costing taxpayers “tens of billions annually,” according to the Project On Government Oversight. A detailed report by the Daily Caller News Foundation said some contractors do not provide the military with the technical data needed to understand, maintain and repair equipment the government has already bought.
William Hartung, a senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, told the Daily Caller News Foundation that contractor control over key data adds another layer to the repair process.
“Without the ability to repair its own equipment without action by contractors that control key data, there is an unnecessary extra step in the repair process,” Hartung said. “Contractors have the government over a barrel and have the ability to charge exorbitant prices for repair work.”
The amendment was added to the NDAA by voice vote during the House Armed Services Committee markup on June 4. It still must pass the full House and Senate and be signed by the president before becoming law.
A similar right-to-repair provision was included in the 2026 NDAA but was removed from the final version after opposition from the defense industry, Federal News Network reported.
The Army said it supports the concept as a way to improve readiness and reduce repair delays.
“The Army is advocating for the ‘right to repair’ policy to reduce delays and costs associated with operational readiness,” U.S. Army spokesperson Ellen Lovett told the DCNF.
Lovett said the service is already trying to prevent similar problems in future contracts.
The branch is “leaning forward to avoid right to repair issues in the future,” Lovett said. “For example, we’re identifying right to repair constraints in current contracts and ensuring we have contract language to address repair needs going forward; establishing a central repository to track IP; and updating internal policies and processes.”
Military leaders have also raised concerns that service members can be forced to wait for contractors even for routine maintenance. During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on June 10, 2025, former Navy Secretary John Phelan told senators that sailors should be able to fix their own equipment. He cited a case involving broken ovens on a U.S. aircraft carrier.
“I went on the [USS Gerald R. Ford] carrier; they had eight ovens — this is a ship that serves 15,300 meals a day,” Phelan said. “Only two were working. Six were out [for repair].”
Goodlander argued during the committee markup that the current system undermines military operations and imposes unnecessary costs.
“For decades, our service members have been forced to rely on a deeply broken system, a status quo that has made repairing equipment on the battlefield impossible,” Goodlander said. “It has threatened our readiness. It has cost American taxpayers billions of dollars, and for this reason, we have seen every service secretary that has come before this committee support our amendment and our effort to try to codify the right to repair and to fix this broken status quo system.”
The proposal has faced resistance from Republican House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers and several other Republicans. Rogers warned that the amendment could discourage companies from doing business with the Pentagon if they believe their intellectual property is at risk.
“This amendment would force companies to choose between protecting their IP and doing so with the Department of Defense. Many will choose to protect their IP,” Rogers said during the markup hearing. “The result will be fewer innovative companies in the defense market, and thus fewer cutting-edge capabilities available to the warfighter.”
The Government Accountability Office has also identified technical data limits as a recurring problem across the Defense Department.
“Data rights challenges can drive up sustainment costs and lengthen repair timeframes by creating vendor lock where programs are forced to rely on a single OEM or supplier for their sustainment needs, often through sole source contracts,” Shelby S. Oakley, director of Contracting and National Security Acquisitions at the GAO, told the DCNF. “We have found that issues with technical data and data rights are pervasive among DOD systems.”
Harrigan and Rogers did not provide comments in time for publication.
The issue is especially visible in major weapons systems such as Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Hartung said Lockheed Martin controls the repair software for the aircraft, limiting the government’s ability to address maintenance problems independently.
“The F-35 repair software is controlled by the prime contractor, Lockheed Martin,” Hartung told the DCNF. “The plane has had many, many delays, and is still only ready for combat a little over half the time, with the rest of the time spent awaiting repairs. Right to repair could fix much of this.”
The Pentagon paid Lockheed Martin $1.7 billion in June 2024 for the F-35 program even though the fleet did not meet the minimum percentage of airworthy units, according to the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General.
Lockheed Martin did not respond to a request for comment, and the Pentagon declined to comment on the amendment.
The Army has faced similar data-rights problems with its Stryker armored fighting vehicles. The service was unable to acquire the data needed to maintain the vehicles and eventually had to rely on General Dynamics Land Systems, according to a GAO report.
“The program has tried unsuccessfully over time to acquire unlimited data rights for the [Stryker] base vehicle,” according to the GAO report. “As a result, in 2024, the Army established a technical support contract with the prime contractor [General Dynamics Land Systems] for the base vehicle on a sole source basis at a cost of about $534 million over 5 years.”
General Dynamics declined to comment.
The NDAA is Congress’ annual defense policy bill. It authorizes defense programs and sets rules for how defense-related funds may be used, but it does not provide the funding itself. Separate appropriations legislation is required to spend the money authorized in the NDAA.
The 2027 NDAA authorizes nearly $2 billion for defense-related programs involving Iraq, Syria’s formerly al-Qaeda-linked regime, NATO and the Israeli government. The Pentagon is also seeking relaxed restrictions on how soon certain former senior officials and civilian employees may lobby for defense manufacturers.
The debate comes as defense spending and military tensions rise globally. Worldwide military spending reached $2.887 trillion in 2025, marking the 11th consecutive year of growth, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
Goodlander said the amendment is meant to restore a practical principle: troops should be able to maintain the systems they depend on.
“I offered this amendment for a very straightforward reason: to vindicate a principle that is both common sense and deeply American — that our service members should have the tools and the ability to fix and maintain the equipment they rely on to accomplish their missions,” Goodlander said in a statement provided to the DCNF. “For decades, our military has been forced to operate under a broken system that makes even routine repairs unnecessarily difficult, threatens readiness, and costs taxpayers billions of dollars. This amendment cuts red tape, closes loopholes, and helps ensure our warfighters can do the jobs we’ve asked them to do.”
Hartung said the current system gives contractors too much leverage, especially when software or technical data was created under government contracts.
“In many cases, the software or data in question has been developed under U.S. government contracts, and should not be proprietary information of the contractors to begin with,” Hartung told the DCNF. “The current balance is far too skewed towards contractors and away from the government and the taxpayer. [The Amendment introduced by] Goodlander-Harrigan would help fix that.”
Supporters of the amendment say the issue is not only about cost but also about operational independence. If the Defense Department does not control the data needed to repair the systems it uses, it can be left dependent on contractors that may be the only available provider of maintenance and technical support.
(Courtesy photo by Tom Reynolds/Released/US Air Force/Flickr)
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