Congress quietly strips right-to-repair provisions from US military spending bill

Congress has released the final version of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), and critics have been quick to point out that previously proposed rules giving the US military the right to repair its equipment without having to rely on contractors have gone missing.  The House and Senate versions of the NDAA …

[Neil Barnes]

it sure looks fishy

And on the Gerald R Ford, there's a 75% chance that you can't even cook the fish.

Chef's jacket, obviously: ---->

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: it sure looks fishy

Will they at least be allowed to catch fish ?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: it sure looks fishy

They'll be allowed to blow up fishing boats, I assume some fish will float to the surface afterwards.

[b0llchit]

War #J842X23

• Captain: ...holding on the support line...
• Canon Support: Hello sir, how may I help you?
• Captain: ^{_{rumble crash bang boom}} Our canon is misfiring. You need to come over and repair it immediately.^{_{rumble crash bang boom}}
• Canon Support: I'm sorry sir, I cannot understand you. There is a lot of noise. Can you move to a more silent place and repeat your request?
• Captain: What The FUCK? I'm in a WAR and the canon is fucking misfiring!
• Canon Support: Sir, your tone is not acceptable. Please calm down and ring us again later when you have calmed down. hangup...click...
• Captain: ...holding on the support line...
• Canon Support: Hello sir, how may I help you?
• Captain: ^{_{rumble crash bang boom}} Our canon is misfiring. And, NO, I cannot make it silent here. We are in the middle of a fighting WAR! we need help NOW!
• Canon Support: Sir, yelling does not speed up our support process. In the meantime, can I ask you to turn your ship off and on again?
• Captain: Are you FUCKING KIDDING ME!
• Canon Support: hangup...click...
• Ship PA: Incoming! BANG
• Canon Support: Hello Invoice Department, we had a support call from our contract. Please bill them for two calls.

[ecofeco]

Re: War #J842X23

It's the Mark 14 torpedo all over again.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_14_torpedo

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: War #J842X23

On the other hand it's great for your resolved support ticket KPIs.

Caller: I'm on fire and my ejector seat says "error"

Service: Have you tried turning it off and on again? Please call back if this doesn't work

Ticket marked , no customer response, resolved

[that one in the corner]

Re: War #J842X23

> Captain: What The FUCK? I'm in a WAR and the canon is fucking misfiring!

Oh come now. John Hurt's Doctor wasn't *that* bad. Okay, if you count all the faces in Brain of Morbius then the whole "12 regenerations" thing was already shot by the time you got to him, putting the *entirety* of the New Who into question even before that Northerner with the big lugs appeared...

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: War #J842X23

That was cleared up decades ago. It was the faces of Morbius as well as of The Doctor.

[that one in the corner]

Re: War #J842X23

<nasal_voice>

If you watch the episode, it is made very clear that we saw two distinct sets of faces, those of the younger versions of The Doctor as he was losing the contest and then, after a pause, as The Doctor gains the upper hand, those of Morbius - both sets started with the current incarnation of the character. The only way that "clearing up" works is if you believe that, for some unexplained reason, the images of The Doctor were suddenly replaced by those of an even *younger* Morbius before we get the pause - and Morbius's lives get started again from the current incarnation.

</nasal_voice>

OR we accept that that episode was made well before the "12 regenerations" idea came about - and the Canon is exploding*

* Plus, of course, well after that attempt at "clearing up", Canon is now that The Doctor was never limited to 12 in the first place, so all those pre-Hartnell Doctors are quite ok and the "clearing up" has been "cleared away". It also raises the issue that someone on Gallifrey still nows all about The Child and staged some special effects to cover up that Matt Smith's's Doctor would regenerate anyway. Which may have been The Spy Master, as he supposedly was the only one to find out...

[award]

Re: War #J842X23

So the Cannon support are just following canon?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: War #J842X23

Not really.

They just want more bucks for their bang, whereas the Navy want more bangs for their buck..

[Yorick Hunt]

Re: War #J842X23

They should've gone with Epson instead of Canon.

Hint: r/canon/cannon/

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: War #J842X23

Maybe they need a new draft bill that makes hell desk operators first in line to be called up if it looks like the war is going badly?

[Charlie Clark]

Re: War #J842X23

Yosarian, is that you?

[kmorwath]

Re: War #J842X23

Of course the Canon support center could not understand why someone was yelling so much if they photocamera wasn't shooting properly....

[Steve Davies 3]

So much for all that tough talk from kegbreath

Every unit will have a plethora of contractors attached to them so that even minor fixes can be made.

The enemy will be laughing all the way to winning the battle.

Try telling a soldier who is under fire that he can't fix a misfire and will have to wait for a service tech to arrive.

Madness.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: So much for all that tough talk from kegbreath

They should have called it the "Sgt Bilko Bill" then at least the cabinet would have understood it

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: So much for all that tough talk from kegbreath

Perhaps a nice case of Gentleman Jack arrived as a Christmas box.

[DS999]

Why do we permit a system

Where changes like this can be made without any record of who made them? How can you hold the responsible person/people accountable at the ballot box if you don't know who did it? Because you can be damn sure they took full credit with the defense industry lobbyists who wanted that bit removed!

[ecofeco]

Re: Why do we permit a system

Oh please. We know damn well who did this.

[MrAptronym]

Re: Why do we permit a system

Do we? I feel like it could have been almost anyone in either party for this issue. If someone had to step forward and pay the political price, it would make all of them think twice before putting their names on an unpopular amendment.

(I mean, realistically, someone who is not up for re-election would do it and then head off to a cushy corporate gig. Or maybe someone in a totally safe district.)

[Gary Stewart]

Re: Why do we permit a system

Ah congress, never met a campaign contribution (AKA bribe) they wouldn't take.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Why do we permit a system

If there's no paper trail, they're all guilty.

I supposed that's kind of redundant when talking about politicians though....

[Snake]

Re: Why do we permit a system

I keep saying on here, we've got the best government corporations have paid for. It's been proven, time and time again, and time-and-time-again the population continues to vote the same way in order to keep it.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: Why do we permit a system

I don't think corporations BUY politicians, after all once elected they are a depreciating asset.

They simply lease them as and when needed, Sleaze-As-A-Service you might say

[cookiecutter]

as long as the word lobbying exists

we don't live in democracies.

when an industry, whether it be military contractors, banking, car building, house building, consultancies etc can lobby... sorry bribe politicians....our votes are a total waste of time

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: as long as the word lobbying exists

On the other hand, ultimately both sides will end up being owned by the same giant corporation and there will be no more wars

The Weyland-Yutani company is hardly going to go to war with itself

[that one in the corner]

Re: as long as the word lobbying exists

OTOH the members of the Landsraad were not shy of facing off against each other, despite all being shareholders of and incorporated into CHOAM.

After all, we've had the idea of Battlin' Business Units for a while now, as each one tries to keep a larger portion of next year's budget; it is only a matter of time before someone gets around to scheduling the live fire tests on the same day as the company-wide morale boosting paint-ball outing. He may only be a Junior VP now, but that Harkonnen lad has his eye on the big prize.

[Mike 137]

Re: as long as the word lobbying exists

"ultimately both sides will end up being owned by the same giant corporation and there will be no more wars"

Oh yes there will, and they'll last longer. Supplying both sides is both twice as profitable and can be good insurance ("hedging one's bets"). And it works -- there are plenty of precedents going back to ancient Greece.

[Casca]

Re: as long as the word lobbying exists

You never experience department politics and infighting. They make civil wars seem tame.

[seldom]

Re: as long as the word lobbying exists

You've never read Catch 22 I take it. Google Milo Minderbinder.

[MachDiamond]

Upside

All of those guns held by average Amcits is a formidable backup in case of a war that they US should take much of an interest in.

After all hands are forced to abandon the aircraft carrier, somebody with a bypass module they bought from Aliexpress will board and drive the boat somewhere out of the way and claim salvage. The AI enhanced ovens in the galleys will be chucked overboard and a brace of early Merit-Okeefe ranges will be used to replace them with some real cooks producing the meals.

[FuzzyTheBear]

As usual

republicans screw everyone , including their own military. No matter if it's efficient or not. It's just a matter of breaking , destroying everything that works in the military and civil society for the benefit of Russia. They're the only ones that benefit from the dismantling. Imagine .. you're in a tank , you got trouble in a war zone and all of a sudden you got to take the phone , call a help line , ask for a service call after going through level 1 and 2 customer service all this while you're being shot at .. Good luck America.

[IGotOut]

Re: As usual

I'd suggest you actually read the article...

"House Armed Services Committee chair Mike Rogers (R-AL) and ranking Democrat Adam Smith (D-WA), responsible for much of the final version of the bill, have received significant contributions from defense contractors in recent years"

[ecofeco]

Re: As usual

Read, indeed:

The House and Senate versions of the NDAA passed earlier both included provisions that would have extended common right-to-repair rules...

...Both of those provisions were stripped from the final joint-chamber reconciled version of the bill,...

[drankinatty]

Re: As usual

Crypto changed wallets somewhere... What we need is more sunshine, the greatest disinfectant for political corruption yet developed.

[Ropewash]

Re: As usual

Replace 'sunshine' with kerosene and I'm in full agreement..

[kmorwath]

Re: As usual

The real issue is too many Democrats are on the same wavelenghts of trumpists when it comes to business money. That's why they can't deliver a common politics against trumpism. Laissez-faire, neutering anti-trust, removing regulations enacted to protect people from corporation grreed are liked by them as much as they are liked from trumpits.

Remember that was Clinton to remove the Steagall-Glass Act.

Trumpists fully understand that and use it at their own advantage - after all it's the old "divide et impera".

[DrewPH]

Is anyone surprised?

Western economies are based around triggering and funding wars, after all. They don't call it the military-industrial complex for nothing.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: Is anyone surprised?

>They don't call it the military-industrial complex for nothing.

No but upto now we generally assumed the military and the industrial complex were at least on the same side

[ecofeco]

Re: Is anyone surprised?

Right. Imagine if other countries had large arms industries! Or invade other countries for plunder!

Oh wait...

[seven of five]

Re: Is anyone surprised?

Yeah, but those stupid amateuers don't get rich in the process...

Oh, wait...

[Brave Coward]

It's the economy, stupid!

So contemporary capitalism as usual: captive markets, captured regulators via bribery, and phony copyright laws. Nothing to see here.

By the way, I always knew Adam Smith was a joke. «The Owens of Nations» is a vastly overestimated book.

[ecofeco]

Re: It's the economy, stupid!

I really have no idea how Adam Smith became capitalism's idle because when you read his words and papers, he HATED capitalism on the large scale.

Never forget, the real reason for the American Revolution was the British East India Company absolutely screwing the colonies.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: It's the economy, stupid!

The same "economists" who think Hayek said you should only trade with people with the same eye colour as you

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: It's the economy, stupid!

The same way Ayn Rand became the poster-author for people who like massive governments issuing corporate subsidies, anti-woman sexism, and think she was probably a big fan of the military-industrial complex.

People don't bother reading these authors' work, they just hear what to think from others.

[DJO]

Re: It's the economy, stupid!

Never forget, the real reason for the American Revolution was the British East India Company absolutely screwing the colonies.

If you are obliquely referring to the shenanigans at Boston in 1773, the complaint was the tax on tea was reduced for large corporations (such as the East India companies), there was no additional burden for the American citizens.. And since then the US has systematically reduced the tax burden on corporations while increasing it for it's citizens.

No matter how much things change, they stay the same.

Anyway the real reason was a culmination of lots of factors, no single event triggered it.

[Claptrap314]

Corruption in military procurement has been a three-way party (two in congress, one in the equivalent of the Pentagon) since the founding of the Republic. Check out the order for ships of the line in the first congress--in the end, they got two. Nice line there.

Really, it's not just my party.

[John Brown (no body)]

No, it's MY party. And I'll cry if I want to!!

[Tubz]

Sorry we can't replace your ships air defence missile tracking system, as you have not raised the appropriate change request, completed all the mandatory fields, for example current location, verifcation from 2 people on the approval list and the chosen date is within a change freeze window, for updates to our billing system prior to sending out monthly invoices.

[Anonymous Coward]

Lead by donkeys

Here comes the shi….

[M.V. Lipvig]

No problem

Start putting in the contracts that repairs must be completed within 5 days of notification of the repair need, or within 6 days of the first attempt to notify, or the contractor starts paying penalties. Does not matter how large or how small the job is. Penalty is 10 percent of the purchase price for the equipment per day, minimum 10,000 per day. Or, the contractor has the option of putting it in the contract allowing the military to make its own repairs.

[MachDiamond]

Re: No problem

"Start putting in the contracts that repairs must be completed within 5 days of notification of the repair need, or within 6 days of the first attempt to notify, or the contractor starts paying penalties. "

5 minutes, which means the contractors will have to embed repair staff with any unit using their tech. If they don't have techs in the field, that's where the big penalties happen. There isn't time on the battlefield to be put on hold and commanders are just going to order people to try and make repairs. If the thing can't be fixed, it will be stripped of anything that can be carried and the rest blown up. An equipment failure will then be entered as reason for loss of equipment. That's doesn't look all that good on the next reorder or new bids.