COL. ROB MANESS: Congress Must Bust Repair Monopolies

In combat zones, waiting on a civilian contractor to authorize or perform a basic repair can be the difference between mission success and catastrophic failure. I’ve seen it firsthand. When critical systems go down, you don’t have time to navigate bureaucratic red tape. You need to fix the asset as quickly as possible.

That’s why I’m urging Congress to pass Sen. Josh Hawley’s (R-MO) and Rep. Neal Dunn’s (R-FL) REPAIRAct, which will advance the Right to the Repair principles that the Trump administration has long sought to become law for both the military and everyday consumers.

Right to Repair means ensuring that users, whether it’s a service member in a war zone or a small-town mechanic, have the legal right to fix the equipment that’s brought to them. Increasingly, manufacturers — seeking to retain a monopoly on their own repairs through authorized dealers and service centers — use software locks and intellectual property restrictions to block access to repair manuals, diagnostic tools, and replacement parts. These restrictions create costly chokepoints, erode readiness, and undermine the military’s self-reliance.

After 32 years in uniform, including leading combat operations across the globe, I know what military readiness really means. And right now, our troops are all too often hamstrung by proprietary restrictions that block them from accessing the tools, software, and data needed to fix their own gear. So too are many of the repair shops that everyday Americans trust. That’s unacceptable.

In the military, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth gets the need to fix this. He has made it clear that our armed forces must become “a leaner, more lethal force.” Front and center in his