US senator challenges defense industry on right-to-repair opposition as funding talks continue

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By Mike Stone

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Democratic U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren is escalating pressure on the defense industry to stop opposing military right-to-repair legislation, as House and Senate negotiators work to finalize the fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act.

In a sharply-worded November 5 letter to the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) obtained by Reuters, Warren accused the industry group of attempting to undermine bipartisan efforts to give the Pentagon greater ability to repair weapons and equipment it owns.

She called the group’s opposition “a dangerous and misguided attempt to protect an unacceptable status quo of giant contractor profiteering.”

Currently, the government is often required to pay contractors like NDIA members Lockheed Martin  Boeing and RTX to use expensive original equipment and installers to service broken parts, versus having trained military maintainers 3D print spares in the field and install them faster and more cheaply.

The Massachusetts senator’s intervention comes as congressional negotiators reconcile competing versions of the National Defense Authorization Act, an annual U.S. bill that sets policies and authorizes funding for the Department of Defense and national security.

The House and Senate versions contain provisions requiring defense contractors to provide technical data necessary for military personnel to repair equipment in the field. Warren’s letter appears aimed at preventing industry lobbying from weakening or eliminating those provisions during final negotiations.

“Your organization’s attacks are based on unproven conjectures and self-serving projections,” Warren wrote to NDIA President David Norquist, demanding transparency about which member companies oppose the reforms and how much they have spent lobbying against them.

Both House and Senate versions of the defense bill include language that would save taxpayers billions of dollars while enhancing military readiness, according to Warren. The provisions have garnered support from Democrats and Republicans, the Trump administration, military veterans and more than 300 small businesses.

The Pentagon in April directed the Army to review existing contracts and ensure future agreements guarantee repair rights, building on momentum for the reforms.

Warren cited recent Government Accountability Office reports detailing how contractor restrictions have forced military maintainers to cannibalize grounded aircraft for parts and wait weeks for original equipment manufacturers to authorize repairs.

In one example, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll revealed a Black Hawk helicopter screen control knob that costs $47,000 as part of a full assembly could be manufactured independently for just $15.

(Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington; Editing by Jamie Freed)