July 08, 2025

Warren, Sheehy Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Guarantee Military Right to Repair Its Equipment

This bill would extend the Army’s right to repair policy to all the services, standing up for taxpayers and service members.

Bill Text (PDF) | Bill One-Pager (PDF)

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.) introduced the Warrior Right to Repair Act of 2025, legislation that would require contractors to provide the Department of Defense (DoD) with access to technical data and materials the military needs to repair and maintain its own equipment. 

The DoD has long relied on defense contractors to provide the U.S. military with a wide range of equipment. Contractors often set out terms for this equipment, from its cost to the necessary design requirements. Many of these contracts contain provisions that restrict DoD’s ability to conduct repairs, including provisions that limit the sharing of intellectual property and technical data with DoD, which leaves service members unable to repair their own equipment and waiting weeks or months for a contractor to perform repairs that service members could do themselves.

These restrictions have concerning implications for service members’ skills, sustainment costs, and readiness. Restricting service members from repairing their equipment often leads to higher sustainment costs and increases the risk of DoD being overcharged. The Navy was forced to fly contractors to ships at sea to perform simple fixes, Marines in Japan had to send engines back to the United States for repairs instead of fixing them on-site, and one contractor charged $900 a page for upgrades to its maintenance manuals for an Air Force aircraft used to provide air support to troops in battle. 

Last month, Secretary of the Army Daniel Driscoll announced that the Army will ensure right to repair provisions are included in future Army contracts and will identify and propose contract modifications for right to repair provisions in current contracts. The Warrior Right to Repair Act of 2025 would extend the Army’s right to repair policy to all the services, standing up for taxpayers and service members.

“It’s common sense for members of our military to be able to fix their own weapons,” said Senator Warren. “Senator Sheehy and I are fighting to improve military readiness and save taxpayers billions. It's about time we stood up to Pentagon contractors that are squeezing every last cent from us at the expense of our national security.”

“For decades, American service members have been forced to rely on a broken status quo to repair equipment on the battlefield, threatening our readiness and costing taxpayers billions,” said Senator Tim Sheehy. "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.”

In May 2025, Senators Warren and Sheehy published a Fox News op-ed that underscored how right to repair restrictions imposed by defense contractors hurt the military’s ability to respond to threats and bloat the national defense budget by blocking service members from repairing weapons and equipment. 

Specifically, the Warrior Right to Repair Act would:

  1. Ensure contractors provide DoD with “fair and reasonable” access to repair materials, including parts, tools, and information, by ensuring DoD’s procurement contracts guarantee access, on fair and reasonable terms, to materials needed for service members to repair equipment and for services to compete for sustainment contracts.

  2. Define “fair and reasonable access” as providing similar terms, conditions, and prices as those the contractor makes available to the authorized repair providers to allow for an even playing field.

  3. Incorporate right to repair in current contracts by initiating a review to determine the contract modifications needed to remove repair restrictions that currently limit DoD’s ability to maintain and repair systems effectively and efficiently. 

The legislation is endorsed by the Project On Government Oversight (POGO), the Aeronautical Repair Station Association (ARSA), Taxpayers for Common Sense, and the U.S. Public Interest Research Groups (PIRG).

"This bill will strengthen America’s military readiness and cut wasteful spending by giving our service members the tools and authority to repair their own equipment,” said Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, the interim Vice President for Policy and Government Affairs at the Project On Government Oversight. “When their essential equipment breaks down, our troops shouldn’t be forced to wait for a contractor to fix it at taxpayers’ expense. By ensuring the right-to-repair, this bill is a win for both national security and fiscal responsibility.”

“The Warrior Right to Repair Act means better reliability for America’s warfighters, higher return on investment for taxpayers, greater contracting opportunities for small companies, and a broader, more competitive military industrial base,” ARSA Executive Vice President Christian A. Klein said. “In particular, we see significant opportunities to enhance DOD aircraft readiness.”

“Pentagon contractors have been making billions on monopoly-priced repair contracts that undermine readiness, put our nation’s warriors at risk, and leave taxpayers to pick up the check,” said Steve Ellis, President of Taxpayers for Common Sense. “The Warrior Right-to-Repair Act would give our troops access to the tools and data they need, strengthening national security and saving billions in the process.”

“When our neighbors, friends and family serve in our military, we expect them to get what they need to do their jobs as safely as possible," said Isaac Bowers, U.S. PIRG Federal Legislative Director. Somehow, that hasn't included the materials and information they need to repair equipment they rely on. It's time we fixed that. “Military Right to Repair is overwhelmingly popular with the American public regardless of party affiliation -- and for good reasons: It will save taxpayers billions of dollars, improve our military’s readiness and save the lives of servicemembers bravely serving their country. We applaud Senators Sheehy and Warren for introducing this important, bipartisan legislation. Now, we call on Congress to prioritize voting this bill into law. After that, our leaders should get to work extending the Right to Repair to all Americans. Life would be better, cheaper and safer if we could all just fix our stuff.”

Senator Warren has been a leader on right to repair in the military:

  • In June 2025, at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Navy Secretary John Phelan told Senator Elizabeth Warren that he is a “huge supporter of right to repair” and expressed support for a bill guaranteeing the military can repair its own equipment and requiring contractors to offer repair materials for a fair and reasonable price.

  • In May 2025, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Tim Sheehy called for every service of the military to follow the example set by Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and ensure the military has the right to repair the equipment it owns. The senators also announced a new bipartisan bill to make the right to repair policies permanent.

  • In May 2025, at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Air Force Secretary Troy E. Meink said he agreed with Senator Elizabeth Warren and fully supported making the right to repair a strategic priority for the Air Force. He also agreed on the need to update the branch’s policies to include the right to repair in contracts service-wide and prevent defense contractors from price-gouging the military.

  • In May 2025, at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Elizabeth Warren uplifted how the right to repair can help the U.S. military and allied forces promote innovation and reduce costs.

  • In May 2025, Secretary of the Army Daniel P. Driscoll announced that the Army will ensure right to repair provisions are included in future Army contracts, after pressure from Senator Warren.

  • In April 2025, Senator Elizabeth Warren secured a commitment from Mr. Michael Cadenazzi, nominee to be the next Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy, to support AI competition and innovation in defense contracting.

  • In March 2025, at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support, Senator Elizabeth Warren questioned General Randall Reed, Commander for Transportation Command, about the importance of the military’s ability to have the right to repair its own equipment.

  • In February 2025, at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Elizabeth Warren questioned Mr. John Phelan, the nominee to be Secretary of the Navy, about his views on ensuring the Navy’s right to repair its own equipment – one of Senator Warren’s priorities.

  • In January 2025, at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, a Palantir Executive agreed with Senator Elizabeth Warren that legal loopholes should not enable companies to price-gouge the military.

  • In January 2025, Senator Elizabeth Warren questioned Mr. Dan Driscoll, nominee for Secretary of the Army, about his views on enhancing the Army’s right to repair its own equipment and his commitments to address the revolving door between the Pentagon and contractors.

  • In December 2024, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.) introduced the Servicemember Right-to-Repair Act to increase military readiness and cut costs by allowing servicemembers to repair their own equipment.

  • In September 2024, Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote to the Defense Department and to the defense contractor industry 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. 

  • 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 with a bipartisan committee vote of 21-4.

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