Lawmakers Vote to Keep Hold on E-3 Retirements, Grant Military ‘Right to Repair’

The House Armed Services Committee approved its annual defense policy bill June 5 after a marathon markup session that saw scores of amendments added to the bill—including one that would bar the Air Force from retiring any E-3 Sentry aircraft through fiscal 2027.

The amendment to the fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization bill, introduced by Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.), aims to preserve the Air Force’s small but precious airborne battle management capabilities. It would also require the service to spell out a detailed schedule for the procurement, fielding, and achievement of the initial and full operating capability milestones for the E-7 Wedgetail aircraft, which is meant to replace the aging E-3s.

The E-3—also known as the AWACS, or airborne warning and control system, aircraft—has been a vital part of the Air Force’s fleet since the 1970s, used to provide command and control and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities to U.S. and allied forces.

But for several years now, top Air Force leaders have voiced concerns that the E-3’s capabilities are out of date and have not kept up with those of adversaries. The Sentry’s air frame itself is also aging, and the service has had more and more difficulty keeping the aircraft flyable. Those concerns led the Air Force to contract with Boeing to start building a fleet of replacement E-7s.

The fiscal 2026 NDAA barred the Air Force from retiring or mothballing any of its 16 remaining E-3s. The amendment Wittman attached to the 2027 NDAA now under consideration would extend that prohibition through 2027.

Wittman’s amendment would also lower the minimum number of E-3s the Air Force is required to maintain from 16 to 15—likely necessary due to the catastrophic damage an AWACS suffered from an Iranian missile and drone strike on a base in Saudi Arabia in March.

The plan required by the amendment would also require the Air Force secretary to outline spending plans for the E-7 program. 

And lawmakers want the Air Force to certify the plan to move from E-3s to E-7s would not allow any degradation of the service’s airborne early warning, battle management, and command and control capabilities that combatant commanders rely on. Congress also wants the Air Force to confirm that any proposed E-3 retirements would not lead to a gap in operational coverage, mission availability, or responsiveness to combatant commanders’ needs.

Right to Repair

The House Armed Services Committee also adopted an amendment introduced by Rep. Maggie Goodlander (D-N.H.) to give the Defense Department more authority to repair and maintain its own equipment.

In a June 5 release, Goodlander said the amendment sets a “clear default framework” for the military to acquire the technical data and repair rights needed to sustain systems. She called the proposal to give troops the power and tools to fix their equipment “both common sense and deeply American.”

“For decades, our military has been forced to operate under a broken system that makes even routine repairs unnecessarily difficult, threatens readiness, and costs taxpayers billions of dollars,” Goodlander said. “This amendment cuts red tape, closes loopholes, and helps ensure our warfighters can do the jobs we’ve asked them to.”

The right-to-repair amendment the HASC adopted would automatically grant the Defense Department rights to use technical data, computer software, or software documentation, unless the contractor clearly and convincingly establishes why those rights should be restricted.

The amendment also calls for the Pentagon to prepare a report examining the possibility of a “clawback,” or recovering excess payments the military made to contractors, when improper restrictions on data or software rights were in place.

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has become something of a poster child for the military’s need to establish a “right to repair.” 

At the dawn of the F-35 program, the Pentagon thought it would be more cost-effective to have manufacturer Lockheed Martin conduct most of the jet’s maintenance, so the military didn’t require Lockheed to hand over technical data needed for the military to do its own repairs on the jet.

The military has grown to deeply regret that decision, so much so that former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall referred to the lack of data rights on the jet “acquisition malpractice.”

A September 2023 report from the Government Accountability Office blasted the F-35 program’s contractor-led sustainment processes as sluggish, in large part because the government doesn’t have complete technical data from Lockheed and its subcontractors. The report said officials at a depot repair facility told GAO that some important parts’ maintenance manuals were “ambiguous and rarely are detailed enough” to repair those parts.

That means that personnel at the depots “not only cannot fix the part, but they cannot learn and understand how to fix the part,” the 2023 report said.

Goodlander’s release cited top officials such as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Kenneth WIlsbach, who advocated for the military to have a right-to-repair policy to foster cost savings, reduce reliance on contractors, and increase readiness.

“Our military leaders have been remarkably clear: they need the ability to repair and maintain their own equipment,” Goodlander said. “Congress should listen to them.”