The U.S. government has recently signaled changes for development and procurement of weapons and aerospace systems. The government has stressed moving faster in procurement and becoming more self-reliant in manufacturing and repair, which may present issues with the proprietary or intellectual property of government contractors. Such contractors should stay abreast of these changes and how they may implicate their proprietary and protected intellectual property in future procurement contracts.
As one example, on November 7, 2025, the U.S. Secretary of Defense (“Secretary of Defense”) addressed leaders of the defense industry regarding reforms at the Pentagon aimed at accelerating weapons development and procurement. The Secretary of Defense reportedly stated “[s]peed to delivery is now our organizing principle.” He referred to documents that indicate another focus of the reforms is to “[m]aximize use of Modular Open System Architectures (MOSA) for development programs moving forward by obtaining delivery of critical system interfaces with government purpose rights.” For example, a recently-released Acquisition Transformation Strategy document states that “[t]he Department will fully implement MOSA in all acquisition strategies to the maximum extent practicable by leveraging open standards, pursuing software application programming interfaces, and asserting IP rights.”
Further, on November 7, 2025, it was also reported that the U.S. Army is planning a major ramp-up in drone acquisition and plans to acquire at least a million drones within the next three years. The U.S. Army provided additional details that its pilot program “SkyFoundry” will be used for in-house drone production using “government-owned” facilities. The SkyFoundary Act of 2025 (“SkyFoundary Act”), a bill introduced into Congress on September 4, 2025, provides that “[t]he Commander of United States Army Materiel Command shall identify a Government-owned production facility with the competencies for producing various forms of small unmanned aircraft systems. The facility shall be operated by the United States Army Materiel Command and have the capability to produce 1,000,000 small unmanned aircraft systems annually once fully established.”
Additionally, a bill for the Warrior Right to Repair Act of 2025 (“Right to Repair Act”) is currently pending in Congress. On November 5, 2025, a member of Congress sent a letter asking the defense industry to stop opposing the bill. U.S. Representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez’s (WA-03) press release states that the Right to Repair Act “would require the DoD to only enter procurement contracts if the contractor agrees to provide fair and reasonable access to repair materials – including parts, tools, and information – to diagnose, maintain, or repair the equipment.” Additionally, the Right to Repair Act discusses identifying “intellectual property constraints” to “remove.” The Act states that “[t]he Secretary of Defense shall conduct a review to identify contract modifications necessary to remove intellectual property constraints that limit the ability of the Department of Defense to conduct maintenance and access the repair materials, including parts, tools, and information, used by the manufacturer or provider or their authorized repair providers to diagnose, maintain, or repair goods covered by a contract.”
Regarding the Right to Repair Act, Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez stated “As it stands, military technicians often have to waste time going back and forth with manufacturers to get information or waiting days at a time to get a part from overseas for what should be a simple fix.” Additionally, Rep. Jen Kiggans (VA-02) stated “Our service members should never be sidelined because a contractor refuses to share the tools or information needed to repair equipment. Restricting basic repairs drives up costs, delays readiness, and puts unnecessary strain on our military.”
Accordingly, the government is pursuing reforms aimed at increasing efficiency and effectiveness of the U.S. Armed Forces by increasing the speed of system development and procurement from contractors, and empowering the government to produce and/or repair equipment independently. Taken together, a trend may be emerging for the government to become more self-reliant in manufacturing and to potentially be further entangled and at a greater pace with the proprietary or intellectual property of contractors. Contractors should be aware of possible impacts on their intellectual property rights.
For example, the Acquisition Strategy Document cited by the Secretary of Defense states that “[t]he Department will strike a balance between strengthening existing authorities and preserving the intellectual capital of industry while ensuring the Department has the information and tools it needs to conduct maintenance, repair, and overhaul of critical systems.” The Acquisition Strategy Document further provides that “[a]chieving this planning in balance with appropriate protection of vendor IP rights when IP was developed in large part with private funding will require a thoughtful approach to defining what technical data the Government will require, how to protect the information the Government retains, and how to ensure technical data is sufficient to satisfy Government needs for repair and sustainment.”
Further, if passed, the SkyFoundary Act would reportedly require that “the United States retains appropriate intellectual property and technical data rights for any systems or technologies developed under the Program. At a minimum, the Secretary shall secure Government purpose rights in intellectual property developed jointly with contractors, to enable the Government’s continued production, sustainment, modification, and competitive procurement of such systems.”
Similarly, if passed, the Right to Repair Act would prohibit the government from entering into a contract for the procurement of goods “unless the contractor agrees in writing to provide the Department of Defense fair and reasonable access to all the repair materials.” The Right to Repair Act would also require identifying and removing certain intellectual property constraints, as mentioned.
Contractors should consider the balance of the government’s interests with the contractor’s interests and rights. For example, future procurement contracts may provide the government with a more lenient license to make and use proprietary or protected intellectual property to address existing bottlenecks while compensating the contractors for the government’s use of their intellectual property.
Contractors should also keep abreast of the progress of proposed legislation like the SkyFoundry Act and the Right to Repair Act that could adversely affect their IP rights. It is important to carefully review all future procurement contracts and contract modifications for changes to intellectual property licensing or ownership (title) terms. For example, it is important to carefully determine whether the requested and/or identified intellectual property extends beyond legal requirements impacted by the legislation.
Regarding the Right to Repair Act, contractors should consider the scope of procurement contracts that could be subject to the Act. For instance, the contract may be limited to restoring a product to its original condition by replacing worn-out or broken unpatented parts. Or, the contract may authorize reconstruction by replacing all or a substantial part of components covered by the contractor’s proprietary or protected intellectual property.
The Acquisition Transformation Strategy document identifies “immediate” actions and/or changes to policy and guidance for future steps of the Department of Defense. The SkyFoundary Act and the Right to Repair Act are currently in respective Committees on Armed Services in the Senate and in the House of Representatives. The SkyFoundary Act is also in the Committee on Financial Services. There are currently no hearings or votes scheduled for the legislation.
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