If it's broken, fix it: Let troops repair the military kit they use

An insistence on manufacturer-authorized repairs is too restrictive

- MICHAEL R. BLOOMBERG is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.

Here's something that US Democrats and Republicans ought to be able to agree on: Americans serving in the military and trying to protect our country and each other should not be strangled by red tape that prevents them from fixing broken weapons and tools. Yet, that is exactly the danger they currently face.

If a war broke out tomorrow, US troops may struggle to repair and maintain the assets they need to defend themselves and defeat the enemy—not because they aren't capable of making those repairs or hiring a third party who can, but because they are contractually forbidden from doing it.

Currently, many Department of Defense contracts reserve repairs for manufacturer-authorized personnel. Such restrictions can apply to everything from backup generators to F-35 fighters. Lacking access to the necessary data, tools, parts and training, troops in the field must either ship broken gear back home or fly out contractors tied to manufacturers—raising costs and imposing potentially dangerous delays.