Army tells House panel FY27 budget aims to revive industrial base, seeks —right to repair— and software integration

Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll told the House Committee on Armed Services that the Army's FY27 request is intended to revitalize a weakened defense industrial base and give soldiers faster access to needed capabilities. "We need right to repair language, relief from pre World War 2 laws, and significantly more budget flexibility," Driscoll said in his opening testimony, describing initiatives to expand depot modernization, advanced manufacturing and broader access to technical data.

Driscoll framed the effort as part of a broader Army Transformation Initiative (ATI) and a software-focused push he called "right to integrate," citing Operation Jailbreak at Fort Carson as an example of industry and service teams working to break down stovepipes. "Every single system that creates a piece of data should be able to share that data anywhere the United States Army needs to go," he said, adding that large defense firms have recently committed engineers and equipment to help the effort.

The committee pressed the witnesses for specifics. Rep. Mike Turner (OH) and others warned that inconsistent demand signals from the Pentagon make it difficult for government-owned, contractor-operated depots and private suppliers to plan and sustain workforces. Turner pointed to the Lima Tank Plant and asked how the Army will transition production from M1A2 upgrades to new M1E3 tanks without causing layoffs or supply-chain gaps. Driscoll said the service is working "hand in glove" with contractors and reorganizing acquisition to provide clearer demand signals.

Members also questioned research and program cuts. Rep. Salud Carbajal asked why the Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies, an Army-affiliated research center, was zeroed out in the FY27 request; Driscoll agreed to follow up with the member's office and cited prioritization for mission-critical lethality investments.

Several members and witnesses highlighted the —right to repair— issue with a concrete example: equipment that would cost about $6 to 3D print but historically required a $40,000 replacement because of unavailable technical data. "We must have the technical data for every single thing that we buy," Driscoll said, arguing that ownership or access to IP and technical files is essential to sustain systems at scale and reduce maintenance costs.

General Christopher Leneve, the Army's acting chief of staff, emphasized that modernization must come with sustainment: "We restructured how we acquire, design, sustain, and field equipment with a decisive focus on speed, the right to repair, and systems modularity," he said, and stressed efforts to make platforms modular and open-architecture so upgrades require integration rather than whole new starts.

On procurement reforms, the Army cited consolidation of hundreds of siloed business systems, reduced internal acquisition steps and creation of new program executive office structures to speed timelines. Driscoll said the service has solicited about 200 proposals for enhanced-use leases on Army land and expects to announce roughly 20 projects by summer to leverage private capital and industrial capability.

Why it matters: Members said the committee wants measurable plans and timelines: how the ATI will allocate funds among modernization, sustainment and force structure; what metrics will judge mission-capable-rate improvements; and how the Army will avoid undercutting domestic supplier bases while fielding new systems. Driscoll and Leneve committed to follow up with members and to provide additional details.

Next steps: Several issues flagged for post-hearing follow-up include a committee request for details on UARC funding, a plan to transition depot workloads, and legislative language to advance right-to-repair and integration authorities in the upcoming NDAA process.