US lawmakers have taken out provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2026 that would have protected military members’ right to repair their own gear. The final text of the NDAA was released by the House Armed Services Committee on Sunday after several delays postponed the annual funding bill to the end of the year. As part of reconciling different versions crafted by the Senate and the House of Representatives, two sections—Section 836 from the Senate and Section 863 from the House—focused on the right to repair have both been eliminated. Additionally, Section 1832 from the House bill, which repair advocates feared could create a “data-as-a-service” relationship with defense contractors, has also been stripped out, potentially forcing the military to pay for subscription-based repair services.
According to WIRED, lobbying efforts by defense contractors appear to have influenced lawmakers involved in the conference process, including Mike Rogers, a Republican from Alabama and chair of the House Armed Services Committee, as well as ranking member Adam Smith of Washington. They removed these repair provisions, which had bipartisan support and were endorsed by the Trump administration.
This decision is a setback for the broader right-to-repair movement, which pushes for policies allowing device users, owners, and third parties to fix and maintain devices without needing manufacturer approval or incurring costs. While the repair rights for military personnel didn’t make it into the final bill, neither did efforts to make the military reliant on subscription-based repair services.
In a joint statement shared with WIRED, Senators Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, and Tim Sheehy, a Republican from Montana, who both support right-to-repair initiatives, criticized the decision. They wrote, “For decades, the Pentagon has relied on a broken acquisition system that is routinely defended by career bureaucrats and corporate interests. Military right-to-repair reforms are supported by the Trump White House, the Secretary of War, the Secretary of the Army, the Secretary of the Navy, entrepreneurs, small businesses, and our brave service members. The only ones against this common-sense reform are those taking advantage of a broken status quo at the expense of our warfighters and taxpayers.”
