Report: Americans support military Right to Repair by nearly a 7-to-1 margin

WASHINGTON — A new report, Military Right to Repair, which outlines the impacts of repair restrictions on the U.S. armed forces was released by U.S. PIRG on Tuesday. The report also features the results of a new poll asking Americans whether Congress should pass a law to ensure the military can fix its equipment. 

Manufacturers routinely refuse to provide access to the parts, tools, or information required to conduct repairs, instead pushing customers — even the U.S. military — to use their brand-authorized service providers. The survey of 1,000 likely voters conducted by Lake Research Partners and the Tarrance Group in April found that voters overwhelmingly support Congress passing a law to ensure the military can access necessary repair materials. Among respondents, 74% support Congressional action, including 53% who strongly support Congress passing such a law. Just 11% oppose it and 15% are undecided. 

“When you rely on equipment for your life and safety, you want multiple options for fixing it when it breaks. That’s true for farmers and consumers, and our research shows it’s vital for American military personnel,” said U.S. PIRG Federal Legislative Director Isaac Bowers. “The Right to Repair is something that Americans increasingly understand — and the more they hear about it, the more they want action to remove barriers to fixing our stuff.” 

The new report follows U.S. Secretary of the Army Daniel P. Driscoll, on April 30, calling for the Army to “[s]eek to include right to repair provisions in all existing contracts and also ensure these provisions are included in all new contracts.”

In addition to showing strong support for Right to Repair reforms, the new report outlines why our service members need these protections. A newly released story from recently retired Master Sergeant Kerry Clark highlights the waste and delays associated with repair restrictions. MSgt. Clark (Ret.) reported that his drone training program was forced to ship broken drones out for repairs, at a cost of $26,000 apiece, for an issue which he later discovered was just a loose cable connector. 

These inefficiencies, scaled across all military equipment, cost taxpayers billions of dollars. Analysis by the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) calculates that the U.S. military spends tens of billions of dollars each year to maintain equipment. These expenditures call for greater scrutiny. 

“Contractors are ripping off the federal government and putting service members at risk by often requiring the military to rely on contract workers to fix broken equipment. This unnecessarily inflates the cost of maintenance and leads to delays for crucial repairs,” said POGO Acting Vice President of Policy and Public Affairs Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette. “It’s clear that it’s time for a change. The U.S. military needs right to repair.”

U.S. PIRG and POGO are working with a bipartisan group of legislators to pass the Servicemember Right-to-Repair Act, which would ensure that all branches of the military have what they need to repair often-unreliable equipment. 

“Technological progress was supposed to lead to better products, but we’re seeing more broken and unfixable devices,” said U.S. PIRG Chairman Douglas H. Phelps. “Not only is the Right to Repair a commonsense solution, this poll shows that it’s also a common-ground solution.”

The bipartisan support found in the poll is both remarkable and fairly consistent across political segments, although highest among Republican likely voters. 

The poll asked: 

“Some military equipment providers require the military to use only their authorized agents to make repairs, rather than allowing service members to do repairs themselves. Would you [support or oppose] Congress passing a law allowing the military to repair equipment they own, rather than relying on paying the manufacturer’s authorized repair technicians, or are you undecided?”  

The survey rotated between asking respondents if they “oppose or support” and “support or oppose” for better accuracy.

Here is a summary of the poll results. The report offers more context. 

TABLE 1: INITIAL RESPONSES (%)

Read the full report, here.