Army and Navy have both asked for right to repair, now Senators want to give it to them

A bipartisan pair of Senators is so happy with the US Army's right to repair policy that they want to enshrine it in federal law as the standard across military branches.  US Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Tim Sheehy (R-MT) introduced a bill in the Senate today that, if passed into law, would require all future military …

[Wang Cores]

Great! Now a GI can unjam his rifle by himself in time to fire in the Second Boston Massacre.

Also given the amount of bullshit jobs that relied on depot-level repairs being carried out by company personnel or contractors, that'll do great for employment numbers.

[Dinanziame]

What? The US government using its power as unique buyer to impose conditions on the poor military-industrial complex? That's just anti-American! Bloody communists...

[Anonymous Coward]

Exactly! What for you is " billions of dollars in bloated sustainment costs", for someone else means "maximixing shareholder value" and "fatter bonuses and stock options".

Make America Greed Again!

[IGotOut]

Sooooo...

By extension the US government will have absolutely no issues with other countries demanding the same.....

Lol ... Just kidding, it ain't gonna happen.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Sooooo...

You mean being able to repair F-35s as needed? You're right...

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Sooooo...

I'm sure the Indians could give it a go immediately.

[Ze]

Re: Sooooo...

I'm sure the Russians would be happy to help the Indians out, and the Chinese would be happy to advise the Russians remotely without telling the Indians.

[Anonymous Coward]

One can only hope this ends up as similar--and if anything, much tougher--legislation for the general population.

[Anonymous Coward]

Sense

Has there been a breakout of common sense or the contractors not paying the senators enough?

[lglethal]

Re: Sense

This is just a bill being tabled. There is still plenty of time for the contractors to "perusade" (through the means of large brown envelopes) enough senators to vote No, or to tie this up in committee for the next bazillion years,

Dont bet on common sense actually achieving the desired outcome this decade...

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Sense

Ha, methinks you are being short sighted...

All the spares they'll have to provide, training manuals, classroom lesson plans, documentation... What an opportunity!

Seriously though...these contracts were let this way to save that documentation/training money. But there are some serious tactical tradeoffs to be made. The Navy has been doing this for 50+ years in various places, but there's always room to tweak the contracts if something is badly out of wack contracting-wise. -->oversight is the right prescription.

[Andrew Scott]

Re: Sense

they should just go back to steam, everyone understands steam! electromagnetically launched planes, there's something fishy there.

[alisonken1]

Re: Sense

Unless you're on a gas turbine ship, you are still using steam. Nuke carriers and subs all use steam.

In the case of catapults, though, there is the upstart EMALS coming in to replace the steam catapults ...

[anonymous boring coward]

If only the meek and easily led consumers could show some back bone too.

Here in Europe we had some consumers' interests organisations, but I'm not sure what they are doing now.

[Ochib]

Will need to make the repairs Squaddy Proof

Think of the most indestructible thing in the known universe. Right? Well, a squaddy can break it. Think of the same thing, but put it through a 20 year 2 billion pound development. Got that thought in your head? Well, the same squaddy can still break it.

The rubber eye piece for one of the old Starlight scopes was thought to be squaddie proof, it's rubber nothing to go wrong...so bored squaddies would eat it. So close but no cigar.

When something that is to be Squaddy Proof, designers should remember that even Squaddies undergo evolution. The old adage "Make something idiot proof and someone will make a better idiot" should be kept in mind here.

[Wapiya]

Re: Will need to make the repairs Squaddy Proof

Maxim 48: If it ain't broke, it hasn't been issued to the infantry.

[MachDiamond]

Re: Will need to make the repairs Squaddy Proof

"Maxim 48: If it ain't broke, it hasn't been issued to the infantry."

Maxim 48a: If it's broken by the infantry, it wasn't designed for infantry use.

The battlefield isn't a place for complex fiddly designed items with tight tolerances and no tolerance for dirt. Gear isn't moved about in Peli cases and operated by experts wearing clean new gloves.

[TDog]

Re: Will need to make the repairs Squaddy Proof

And if you think this level of stupidity is bad, just ask why Putin's great invasion stalled on the road to Kiev.

[Anonymous Coward]

Soooo

This was initiated as a cost saver for things that are really too complicated for repair.

It seems that there was some creep that contractors have been able to abuse...

[Ken G]

Re: Soooo

I don't think the intention is end user repairs. More the option to put maintenance out to another bidder if the original provider is taking the piss.

[MachDiamond]

Re: Soooo

"I don't think the intention is end user repairs. More the option to put maintenance out to another bidder if the original provider is taking the piss."

Both.

If an engine has to be removed from a vehicle and sent back to the US for troubleshooting/repair, that's a huge problem. In peace time there can be logistics for that, but in war, downtime is measured in lives lost and moving large/heavy items back and forth isn't very easy.

[Excused Boots]

"The USS Gerald Ford had weapons elevators offline for more than four years, waiting for the manufacturer to make repairs that could have been addressed by the crew.”

Now correct me if I’m wrong but the ‘Ford’ is the largest warship in the world right now, and is actively deployed. Now being a warship, it puts itself in potential danger, which it needs to, that’s the pout t of a warship; so hypothetically if facing a possible inbound attack, the CO of the ship were to tell crew members ‘just fix it, just make it work, however you need to’, in practice what actually would happen?