Army Will Seek Right To Repair Clauses In All Its Contracts

An anonymous reader quotes a report from 404 Media: A new memo from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is calling on defense contractors to grant the Army the right-to-repair. The Wednesday memo is a document about 'Army Transformation and Acquisition Reform' that is largely vague but highlights the very real problems with IP constraints that have made it harder for the military to repair damaged equipment.

Hegseth made this clear at the bottom of the memo in a subsection about reform and budget optimization. 'The Secretary of the Army shall identify and propose contract modifications for right to repair provisions where intellectual property constraints limit the Army's ability to conduct maintenance and access the appropriate maintenance tools, software, and technical data -- while preserving the intellectual capital of American industry,' it says. 'Seek to include right to repair provisions in all existing contracts and also ensure these provisions are included in all new contracts.'

The memo would theoretically mean that the Army would refuse to sign contracts with companies that make it difficult to fix what it sells to the military. The memo doesn't carry the force of law, but subordinates do tend to follow the orders given within. The memo also ordered the Army to stop producing Humvees and some other light vehicles, and Breaking Defense confirmed that it had. 'This is a victory in our work to let people fix their stuff, and a milestone on the campaign to expand the Right to Repair. It will save the American taxpayer billions of dollars, and help our service members avoid the hassle and delays that come from manufacturers' repair restrictions,' Isaac Bowers, the Federal Legislative Director of U.S. PIRG, said in a statement.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.