Electrician’s Mate 2nd Class Hezekiah Rasmussen, assigned to the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush, welds metal during a repair on Nov. 13, 2024. (Pierce Luck/U.S. Navy)

WASHINGTON — Service members could gain the ability to repair and maintain their own equipment under a new bill that seeks to cut Pentagon spending on defense contractors.

The legislation would compel contractors to give the military “fair and reasonable” access to parts, tools and repair instructions so troops could make fixes without waiting on expensive and time-consuming repairs by contractors.

Contractors often have “right-to-repair” restrictions in contracts with the Pentagon that require the use of their own materials and installers to patch up equipment.

Such requirements have forced the Navy to fly contractors to ships at sea to perform simple fixes and Marines to send engines back to the U.S. instead of fixing them on-site, said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

“Pentagon contractors are taking advantage of our military, forcing them to pay excessive prices and wait weeks for basic equipment repairs,” Warren said. “Without the right to repair their own equipment, our service members in the field are at risk.”

Warren is sponsoring the legislation in the Senate while Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., is sponsoring a companion bill in the House.

Gluesenkamp Perez said the onerous repair conditions in place now have deprived service members of valuable experience fixing equipment and wasted time and money.

“Military technicians want to be working with their hands to fix things — not getting stuck on the phone on hold with a manufacturer,” she said.

The legislation also directs the Defense Department to track and report instances when the military is forced to use a contractor to make repairs, include cost-cutting measures when purchasing weapons and submit to compliance reviews.