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The secrets behind Sean McVay’s booming NFL coaching tree

Sean McVay never stops coaching his coaches — even after they leave his staff.

Last season, during a bye week following the Rams’ rout of the Jacksonville Jaguars in London, McVay counseled Jaguars coach Liam Coen.

“How to reset,” Coen said. “How to have a little more grace for yourself and your players.”

As McVay prepares for his 10th season, his influence and growing coaching tree will once again populate the NFL.

Five former Rams assistants are head coaches: Green Bay’s Matt LaFleur, Cincinnati’s Zac Taylor, Minnesota’s Kevin O’Connell, Arizona’s Mike LaFleur and Coen.

Former Chargers coach Brandon Staley and former Atlanta coach Raheem Morris — now defensive coordinators with New Orleans and San Francisco, respectively — also parlayed stints with McVay into head coaching opportunities.

“The development of the coaches who have worked for him — that’s not an accident,” O’Connell said. “That is something he’s purposeful about, and that he genuinely does care about.”

As always, McVay is quick to acknowledge the early NFL opportunities he was afforded and the lessons learned from his grandfather, John McVay, and the Gruden and Shanahan families.

“What I would hope is that the most helpful thing for them is that they get exposed to everything,” McVay said of helping assistants become head coaches. “Because I try to be as inclusive as possible, so when they get that role, they’ve kind of been in a lot of those scenarios already because they’re helping me navigate those things.”

Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur, right, hugs Rams coach Sean McVay following a game at Lambeau Field in November 2023.

Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur, right, hugs Rams coach Sean McVay following a game at Lambeau Field in November 2023.

(Patrick McDermott / Getty Images)

“That was a huge learning experience for me, just being so close to Sean and seeing all the stuff he had to deal with.”

— Matt LaFleur, Green Bay Packers coach, on the influence Sean McVay had on igniting his head coaching career

Matt LaFleur said he knew McVay would become an NFL head coach within 10 minutes of McVay interviewing for a quality control job with Washington in 2010.

Seven years later, after the Rams made the then-30-year-old McVay the youngest head coach in modern NFL history, McVay hired LaFleur as offensive coordinator. To that point, LaFleur said, becoming an NFL head coach himself was not at the forefront of his mind.

“It wasn’t until I was with Sean and you got kind of a front-row seat,” LaFleur said. “That was a huge learning experience for me, just being so close to Sean and seeing all the stuff he had to deal with. That’s where it kind of intrigued me and piqued my interest.”

After the 2017 season, and the Rams’ first playoff appearance since 2004, LaFleur interviewed to become the Tennessee Titans’ head coach. The Titans ultimately hired him as offensive coordinator and playcaller.

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In 2019, the Packers hired LaFleur as head coach, and he has since guided teams to five playoff appearances and two NFC championship games.

Taylor also was a member of the Rams’ 2017 staff as an assistant receivers coach. The next season, he coached quarterbacks.

McVay empowers all coaches, said Taylor, who had previous experience as a coordinator. Taylor’s initial role with the Rams was a step back, but McVay and other staff members did not make it feel like one.

A month after the Packers hired LaFleur, the Bengals hired Taylor. Two years later, Taylor guided his team to a matchup against the Rams in Super Bowl LVI.

“Sean just shows you this is the model you can follow that works well,” Taylor said. “You take it to your own place, you tweak it. And certainly, over eight years, tweaked it drastically. … But I think there’s just belief when you work there, that this is something you can model off of and win championships with.”

The Chargers hired Staley after the 2020 season. The Chargers requested to interview O’Connell to become offensive coordinator and playcaller, but McVay blocked it, citing it as a lateral move.

“He had different plans,” O’Connell said, “and he’s entitled to do that. But he followed that up with: ‘We’re going to go get Matthew Stafford, we’re going to win a Super Bowl, and you’re going to become a head coach.’

“When all three of those things became true a little over a year later — I love him to death, and I would love to not give him that kind of credit. But I absolutely need to.”

The Vikings hired O’Connell after McVay led the Rams to their Super Bowl victory.

Head coaches Sean McVay of the Rams, left, and Kevin O'Connell of the Vikings talk after their game in October.

Rams coach Sean McVay, left, and Minnesota Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell greet one another after a game at SoFi Stadium in October 2024.

(Kyusung Gong / Associated Press)

“There were countless times where he brought me into his office for circumstances that went beyond the role of a coordinator — to really pull back the curtain and let me understand,” O’Connell said, adding, “He wanted to help my development, and that’s something I’ve now taken very seriously with some of the coaches who have coached for me.”

Coen joined the Rams’ staff in 2018 as an assistant wide receivers coach. He left in 2021 to become Kentucky’s offensive coordinator, but returned to the Rams in 2022 as offensive coordinator.

The Rams suffered the worst Super Bowl hangover in NFL history, and Coen returned to Kentucky before becoming the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ offensive coordinator. The Jaguars hired him in January 2025.

Coen said the lessons he learned from McVay in 2022, when injuries decimated the Rams’ roster, were among the most valuable.

“He challenges every aspect of who you are as a coach,” Coen said.

Coen and McVay talked for close to three hours in the days after the Rams sent the Jaguars to a loss that dropped their record to 4-3. Coen then led his team to nine victories in their last 10 games en route to the playoffs.

“He mentioned something like, ‘Look, you can get frustrated with jersey number X or Y, but we still need to love the name on the back,’” Coen said. “And that was helpful for me because sometimes you can get caught up in the assignment and the execution that you forget, ‘Man, like I really care about that player. His last name, that means something to me as a coach,’ and to lean into that and to make sure that when you come in the building every day and your players come in the building every day, they genuinely want to be there.”

Jacksonville Jaguars coach Liam Coen stands on the sideline during a preseason game.

Jacksonville Jaguars coach Liam Coen stands on the sideline during a preseason game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Aug. 28.

(Parker S. Freedman / Getty Images)

The Falcons hired Morris in 2024, and the Cardinals last February made Mike LaFleur, Matt’s younger brother, a head coach for the first time.

During three seasons as the Rams’ offensive coordinator, Mike LaFleur said McVay established strong foundations but also used his tireless energy to encourage assistants to tear down tried-and-true concepts and build them back, sparking innovation.

“It’s long, it’s tiring, but it’s necessary,” LaFleur said, adding that lessons learned from McVay have served him and others well.

”You look at Kevin [O’Connell], you look at my brother, I do think you just kind of naturally take that with you.

“And in my opinion, it just gives you a leg up.”

McVay laments, usually lightheartedly, the loss of staff members that have ascended to become head coaches.

But said he was grateful for the opportunity to help them achieve their goals.

And there is an added benefit.

“What I think has been really cool is that if you are fortunate to see guys go on and do well, it attracts really high-level coaches as well,” McVay said. “When you show that you’re willing to invest in people, there’s really good coaches that become available on a year-to-year basis.”

First-year offensive coordinator Nate Scheelhaase, a Rams assistant since 2024, appears on track to be the next head coach from McVay’s staff. During the offseason, several teams interviewed Scheelhaase for head coaching vacancies.

If this season plays out as anticipated — the Rams are favorites to win the Super Bowl — McVay’s tree likely will have another branch.

Staff writer Sam Farmer contributed to this story.

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Ex-Miss World winner spills show’s secrets

IT has been branded “offensive” and its host was once pelted with rotten fruit, but the Miss World contest will be watched by two billion when the 75th anniversary final takes place this week.

And representing England at the 2026 showpiece in Vietnam will be Grace Richardson, who has already won the contest’s talent round and has sailed through to the final event.

Ann Sidney after being crowned Miss World in 1964 Credit: Getty
Grace Richardson, the current Miss England Credit: SWNS

One woman who knows what it takes to triumph at the Miss World is former title holder Ann Sidney, who won the 1964 contest representing the United Kingdom.

Now 82, and one of only five Brits to have held the title, she defends the contest against the usual criticisms that it is sexist and out of date.

Ann, who was a 20-year-old hairdresser from Poole in Dorset before entering the competition, tells The Sun: “Miss World was a soft target for protesters. I think people working in TV are more anti-Miss World than the general public.

“When I won, I was in the swimsuit. Now there is an evening gown.

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“I didn’t think twice about wearing a swimsuit. I never felt embarrassed by being in a swimsuit.”

When Ann was named Miss World in 1964, the show’s British TV audience was an extraordinary 27million, which was around half the population at the time.

It catapulted Ann on to the international stage, and she starred in a movie with Mick Jagger, appeared in TV secret agent series The Avengers, entertained US troops in Vietnam with Bob Hope, auditioned for a James Bond film, had a lead role in The Sound Of Music stage show in the West End and met Elvis Presley in Las Vegas.

Miss World, which began as a bikini contest at the Festival of Britain in 1951, provided a jet-set life of five-star hotels, limousines and having the likes of Frank Sinatra fix Ann a drink.

Welsh beauty queen Helen Morgan held the title for just four days in 1974 Credit: Getty
Tom Jones with Miss World Marjorie Wallace on a film set in 1974 Credit: Alamy

But holding on to that crown required sacrifices and hard work.

The Miss World organisation signed a lucrative deal with a trade body for the wool industry, which meant Ann would be the Ambassadress for Wool for a year.

Her contract had a “morality clause”, which meant she could not have boyfriends and had to be Miss Perfect in terms of her behaviour.

And that was a strain for Ann, as she was in an on-off relationship with a married Bruce Forsyth.

The presenter, who died in 2017 aged 89, was a household name, compering the Sunday Night At The London Palladium variety show, decades before he became known for hosting Strictly Come Dancing.

Ann says: “The situation with Bruce kind of broke my heart. I couldn’t get any bad publicity, I would lose the contract basically and certainly lose any money. They paid me very well.

“It was a very difficult thing for me because I had this man in the background that was wanting to go out with me and to see me, and I knew I had to focus on what I was doing.

“You have to be that perfect woman. I had to be completely single and above and beyond suspicion. No dating whatsoever.”

And that is tricky when lots of men want to boast they have slept with Miss World. Once a footballer even pretended to be from room service just so he could tell his team-mates he had been in Ann’s bedroom.

When other men were too persistent, Ann put them firmly in their place.

She says: “I’m not knocking men, but you’re always going to be a trophy, something a man can boast about.

“You can’t take it seriously. Back then, if somebody got naughty, you said, ‘Stop it, you dirty old man’, you know, ‘Give me a break’. Usually men will go, ‘I’m sorry’. You dealt with those things yourself. I think today we’ve become very offended.”

Ann sizzles in a swimsuit back in 1964 Credit: Rex Features
Last year’s Miss England, Milla Magee, quit the show because she felt it treated her ‘like a prostitute’ Credit: Neil Hope

There were other potential pitfalls. Playboy tycoon Hugh Hefner offered Ann $10,000 — around £140,000 in today’s money — to pose naked in his magazine.

Even though he plied her with drink, she turned him down, knowing she would be stripped of her Miss World title if she accepted his offer.

Once her year was up, Ann pursued an acting career, going into repertory theatre to learn the trade in the traditional manner.

She recalls having to overcome the widespread idea that beauty contest winners were “bubble-headed”, with people asking questions about her such as, “Can she learn lines?”.

But she went on to secure a broad range of roles, from the cult 1970 crime film Performance, starring Mick Jagger, to the cosy Seventies sitcom Are You Being Served?.

Since the death in 2019 of her fifth husband, theatre producer Duncan Weldon, she has continued living and working in California.

For other queens over the years, the price of fame was too much.

Britain’s first Miss World, Rosemarie Frankland, had a tragic end. An 18-year-old Marks & Spencer shop worker when she won in 1961, Rosemarie died aged just 57 from a drug overdose in 2000 in a shabby Los Angeles flat.

A 20-year affair with Bob Hope, two broken marriages and a short-lived acting career, which included appearing in The Beatles’ 1964 movie A Hard Day’s Night, is said to have left her depressed.

Our third winner, Leslie Langley in 1965, appeared in Bond film Goldfinger and Doctor Who, then quit showbusiness to be a dental nurse.

Welsh beauty queen Helen Morgan held the title for just four days in 1974, stepping down when it was revealed she was an unmarried mother with an 18-month-old son — somewhat more scandalous in the 1970s — and that a woman intended to name her in a divorce case.

The previous year’s winner, American Marjorie Wallace, was stripped of her title after a fling with singer Tom Jones.

Judges for Miss World have included Sir Bruce Forsyth Credit: ITV
A recent snap of former Miss World winner Ann Sidney Credit: Facebook/Ann Sidney

In 1980, German Gabriella Brum quit after 18 hours when adult images emerged.

The last Brit to win was Sarah-Jane Hutt in 1983. Since then attitudes have softened over the years. Miss UK Nicola Willoughby was allowed to stay in the competition in 1999, even though topless photos were published.

Last year Miss England, Milla Magee, quit the show because she felt it treated her “like a prostitute”.

Now this year’s Miss England, 21-year-old Grace — a performing arts graduate from Leicestershire — is in a strong position to take the crown and sash in Vietnam.

The first openly gay Miss England, who has revealed that she was cruelly bullied over her appearance at school, was set to perform a ballet dance in the talent round, but broke her foot just a week after entering the event.

Luckily she had a back-up talent and secured her place among the Top 40 quarter-finalists by wowing judges with her rendition of the song Never Enough, from the 2017 film The Greatest Showman.

These days, it seems, talent and brains are as important as looks in the Miss World contest, and you will find biochemists and world-class dancers among the women strutting their stuff at the finals.

Since contest founder Eric Morley died in 2000 it has been run by his widow Julia, 86, who has introduced the concept of Beauty With A Purpose — an ideal which means the pageant has raised more than a billion pounds for charity.

Lesley Langley raises a toast in 1965 Credit: Getty
Miss World contestant Halle Berry in 1986 Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd

It could be seen as a response to critics, who have blasted the pageant on feminist grounds.

One such protest against it came in 1970 when Women’s Liberation activists threw flour bombs at host Bob Hope. BBC One controller Michael Grade removed Miss World from the channel in 1984, claiming it was “verging on the offensive”. It is now available on YouTube.

But former winner Ann thinks it is time to bring back the show, which is still broadcast in more than 180 countries, to British terrestrial television.

Ann, who is still working in Hollywood, says: “Miss World has its critics, but I would do it again tomorrow.

“It was a great stepping stone for me. I travelled the world five times in a year. I met incredible people.”

WINNING WAS JUST THE BEST

By Jamie Pyatt, The Sun’s former Miss World Correspondent

FROM judges storming out of press conferences to the countries who have won it back-to-back, here are ten facts about Miss World . . . 

  • Soccer legend George Best was said to have bedded seven Miss World winners, including the US’s Marjorie Wallace in 1973 and Swede Mary Stavin in 1977. But he said in his autobiography: “It was only four. I didn’t turn up for the other three!”
  • More than a million women apply every year to take part in the hope of becoming one of the 108 contestants and winning the $1million first prize.
  • Miss World is the most watched annual TV event, with more than two billion viewers in 180 countries. In the UK it fell out of favour in the 1980s as feminists claimed it degraded women. Indeed, guests arriving for the 2002 event at London’s Alexandra Palace, including this correspondent, were pelted with human poo.
  • The 11 Miss World finalists who have appeared in James Bond movies include the US’s Halle Berry (Die Another Day), Malaysia’s Michelle Yeoh (Tomorrow Never Dies) and the UK’s Carolyn Seaward (Octopussy).
  • The UK is one of only three countries to have won Miss World back-to-back – with Sweden in 1951 and 1952, English roses Ann Sidney and Lesley Langley in 1964 and 1965 and India in 1999 and 2000. The last UK contestant to win was Sarah-Jane Hutt in 1983.
  • Judges for Miss World have included Sir Bruce Forsyth, Sir Richard Branson, Shirley Bassey, Piers Morgan and Jerry Hall, who famously stormed out of a press conference at Sun City resort in South Africa in 1992. It happened when I asked if she had any comment on her then husband Mick Jagger allegedly being caught cheating on her, after she had warned such a question was “out of bounds”. But it gave me a front-page story and Miss World a great publicity boost!
  •  The Miss World crown is the fourth since the contest began and is worth £100,000. It belongs to the Miss World Organisation but each winner gets a replica when she passes her crown to the following year’s winner.
  • In 2002 The Sun helped to evacuate more than 80 beauty queens from Nigeria to the UK as riots over the “offensive” contest led to more than 250 deaths. The contest was rescheduled for London.
  • The current Miss World is Miss Thailand, Suchata Chuangsri, 22, who is the first Thai to win the contest.
  • Final word to George Best, who famously said: “If you’d given me the choice of beating four men and smashing a goal in from 30 yards or going to bed with Miss World, it would have been a difficult choice. Luckily, I had both!”

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Why India is sharing missile secrets with its private sector | Military News

India has taken a major step towards opening one of its most sensitive areas of defence production to private companies.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh approved the transfer of technologies developed by the state-run Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for all conventional missile systems to Indian industry for domestic production, the country’s Ministry of Defence said on Tuesday.

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The move marks a significant shift for the sector dominated by government-run firms and research laboratories. Private companies will be able to compete for the technology and production rights, subject to technical qualifications, certifications and other regulatory requirements, the ministry said.

The Narendra Modi-led government says the aim is to move missiles from development into mass production faster, increase domestic manufacturing and reduce India’s dependence on imports.

So, does India’s private defence industry have the capacity to manufacture sophisticated missile systems at the scale and reliability the military needs, is the country moving towards developing its own military-industrial complex, and are there security risks involved?

What did the government announce?

India’s Defence Ministry said Singh had approved the transfer of DRDO-developed technology for all conventional missile systems to Indian defence companies for production inside the country.

“The objective is to enhance domestic manufacturing capabilities, strengthen the defence industrial base, and create opportunities for the participation of Indian MSMEs (micro, small and medium-sized enterprises) and other technology partners in the supply chain,” the ministry said in a statement.

The measure would enable the “successful transition of missile system development to industrial production” and create opportunities for MSMEs and other technology partners, the ministry added.

“DRDO remains committed to working closely with Indian industry to facilitate the transfer and absorption of advanced defence technologies and to further strengthen the country’s indigenous defence capabilities.”

The announcement spans a wide range of missiles, said Aditya Ramanathan, a research fellow with the Bengaluru-based Takshashila Institution.

“It will include surface-to-air missiles, air-to-air missiles, anti-radiation missiles, antitank systems, and so on. It will also include more heavy-duty hardware like land-attack cruise missiles,” he told Al Jazeera.

FILE - Supersonic BrahMos missiles are seen at the parliament house premises for an upcoming exhibition in New Delhi, India, on Aug. 1, 2016.
Supersonic BrahMos missiles are seen outside Parliament House, New Delhi [File: Manish Swarup/AP Photo]

Why is India doing this?

India has traditionally relied heavily on state-owned defence companies to turn weapons developed by DRDO into large-scale production. Bharat Dynamics, one such state-owned company, has long held a monopoly in missile production.

Tuesday’s announcement is a “big change” because it ends that monopoly, said Ramanathan.

“Private companies have been making missile components for years, but what this decision does is allow them to move up the value chain and become prime integrators for these systems,” he said.

While India largely relies on domestically made missiles, it also imports missiles — especially from Russia and Israel, two key weapons suppliers to the country.

But under Modi, India has attempted to both encourage self-reliance in defence — a concept that the government calls Atmanirbhar Bharat or self-reliant India — and prod foreign defence majors to manufacture in India.

At a time when geopolitical allegiances are changing fast, and India faces uncertainties on both major borders — with rivals Pakistan and China — the country under Modi has more than doubled its defence budget, from $38bn in 2014 to $86bn in the current financial year.

The brief four-day conflict with nuclear-armed rival and neighbour Pakistan last year has injected fresh urgency into India’s defence preparedness plans. This year’s defence budget is 16 percent higher than the previous year’s.

Other geopolitical events have forced the government’s hand too, suggested Ramanathan.

“I don’t think this move would have happened as soon as it did if not for the experience of recent wars. Indian decision-makers have been looking at Ukraine, they’ve been looking at the US war with Iran, and of course they’ve been imbibing the lessons of operations from last year,” he said.

“One reason you’re going to need large stockpiles is that, as we’ve seen recently, you’re going to burn through your inventory pretty quickly. The other reason is that your adversary could also degrade your stockpiles using their own precision-strike systems.”

China, he said, was a major factor in India’s calculations.

“India believes that to deter China, which is its most capable adversary, it will need to demonstrate that it can both inflict and absorb really punishing attrition over weeks of gruelling warfare,” Ramanathan said.

To that end, India is also creating a tri-services conventional missile force. “To be a viable and effective force, it’s going to require serious magazine depth, and this cannot be achieved without the active involvement of the private sector,” he added.

What is India’s defence industry already manufacturing?

In June, India announced that it was preparing to spend more than $2bn on military drones from domestic manufacturers, reflecting the rapid expansion of the country’s private defence industry.

More than 600 companies were involved in India’s drone industry, including major groups such as Adani, Larsen & Toubro, and Tata Advanced Systems, as well as startups.

In July, India also approved the purchase of a range of military equipment for its defence forces worth $5.46bn, including missiles, electronic warfare systems and Kamikaze drones.

India is also pushing to rapidly modernise its navy with an eye on Beijing’s growing influence in key Indian Ocean shipping lanes. In December, New Delhi announced plans to procure at least 75 ships and submarines, with most expected to be constructed domestically.

At the same time, India is trying to diversify the foreign sources of its weapons. Over the past decade, New Delhi has worked to move away from its longstanding reliance on Russia for military hardware, expanding defence ties with countries such as the United States, France and — increasingly — Israel.

Does the private sector have the capacity to build missiles?

Private arms manufacturers in India have been increasing spending on bolstering military production in the past few years.

Major conglomerates have invested heavily in ammunition, drones, aerospace and military electronics. Of late, they have started to invest in facilities that aim to manufacture missiles.

Adani Defence & Aerospace, owned by business tycoon Gautam Adani, a close associate of Indian Prime Minister Modi, announced plans in 2024 to invest more than 30 billion rupees ($315m) in ammunition and missile manufacturing facilities in Uttar Pradesh.

The facilities would include capabilities for handling explosives used in missiles and precision munitions.

But commitments and intent don’t build missiles.

“Ultimately, I think the success or failure of this move will depend on how the Indian government places orders,” Ramanathan said. “Making missiles is an incredibly complex and costly affair, and companies are going to have to invest a lot in infrastructure, technology and people. These sorts of investments will only pay off if the government places large enough orders to justify them and also, hopefully, leave these companies with some profits that they can pour back into research and development.”

INTERACTIVE - India’s ballistic and cruise missiles-1787740026

What missiles does India have?

India has a range of cruise and ballistic missiles, several of which are also capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

In May, on the anniversary of the 2025 war with Pakistan, India successfully test-fired the Agni-V, its most advanced nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile that can reach a distance of 5,500km (3,418 miles) — a range that covers all of China, the Middle East and even parts of Europe.

Its other ballistic missiles have ranges from as little as the Prithvi-1 (150km or 93 miles) to the Agni-IV (4,000km or 2,485 miles), again covering everything from border skirmishes with Pakistan to India’s extended neighbourhood.

It also has powerful cruise missiles, like the BrahMos, co-developed with Russia, which has a range of up to 500km (311 miles), and was used in last year’s war with Pakistan.

Is India also exporting missiles and other weapons?

India has dramatically ramped up its military exports in recent years, from just $72m in 2014-15 — when Modi came to power — to $4bn in 2025-2016.

Paras Defence, one of India’s fast-growing defence manufacturers, said this month it expects its exports to more than double in the 2026–27 financial year, up to $14m, driven partly by increased demand linked to conflicts in the Middle East.

Indian arms makers have also been involved in joint ventures with companies abroad. Adani Defence, in partnership with Elbit Systems – Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer – produces the large Hermes 900 armed drone systems.

A 2024 investigation by Al Jazeera exposed how India was exporting rocket parts and ammunition to Israel, even as the Modi government was publicly calling for diplomacy to end the war on Gaza.

In June 2026, Amnesty International said in a report that India’s weapons exports to Israel made it complicit in the genocide in Gaza.

But it isn’t just Israel that has sought and received weapons from Indian manufacturers. Nor is it just bullets and weapons parts that India is exporting today — complete missiles are in demand, too.

In 2022, the Philippines bought three batteries of the BrahMos missiles from India. Since then, Vietnam and Indonesia have signed deals with India for the purchase of these missiles. And India has submitted a proposal to the United Arab Emirates offering to supply the Gulf country these missiles, too.

Is the latest move a step towards building a military-industrial complex?

That appears to be the intention.

While Tuesday’s announcement marks the first time that India’s state-run research and manufacturing facilities will transfer missile technology to the private sector, the government earlier this year shortlisted private firms to manufacture the country’s next-generation fighter jets.

Tata Advanced Systems, a subsidiary of Tata Sons, and Bharat Forge are among companies to be shortlisted, and are emerging as major makers of artillery systems, ammunition and aerospace systems. India has its homegrown jets, but imports the most cutting-edge planes in its arsenal, including the Rafale fighters from France. The Indian Air Force also relies heavily on Soviet-era jets.

Still, while India “wants to build a wider defence industrial base”, said Ramanathan, “it is very far from developing the sort of military-industrial complex that [former US President Dwight] Eisenhower worried about. Power in India still resides overwhelmingly with the government.”

INTERACTIVE - India arms supply weapons_1-1787737746

What about India’s military imports?

Despite the surge in domestic manufacturing and exports of specific weapons systems and parts, India on the whole remains a major military importer.

India was the world’s second-largest importer of weapons between 2021 and 2025, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI): Russia was its biggest source, accounting for 40 percent of India’s imported weapons.

Are there risks in transferring sensitive technology to the private sector?

As the US and Israel bombed Iran in March this year, a group of Iranian hackers claimed it broke into the servers of major US defence manufacturer Lockheed Martin, stealing blueprints of components used in the F-35 fighter jets.

The alleged data breach exposed the risks of private companies — which often have lower security standards and oversight than top-secret government laboratories — holding sensitive information.

But Ramanathan pointed out that in India’s case, “the companies that are most likely to get the missile contracts are all old hands”.

“They’ve been involved in the defence sector in some capacity for decades, and they have experience in dealing with confidentiality and secrecy,” he said.

The Indian government, on its part, also “doesn’t want the technology or its missile secrets to go to its adversaries, and it also wants to abide by its commitments to the Missile Technology Control Regime, which gives India several advantages,” he said, referring to one of the world’s major export-control regimes.

“So India has good reasons, in its own self-interest, to ensure that missile technology doesn’t leak.”

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