Pakistan Institute of Defence Studies Pakistan Military Consortium POF maintains NATO standards Special Correspondent ISLAMABAD—While very proudly celebrating the 50 glowing years of excellence and nation serving, the Pakistan Ordinance Factories (POF) is all set to manufacture smart bombs and munitions to cater not only to its own armed forces but also to a large number of its international clients. Headed by Lt General Abdul Qayyum, it is a success story for POF all the way through the turbulent 54 years of Pakistan’s chequered history. Founded in 1953 by Pakistan’s second Prime Minister Khawaja Nazimuddin, the POF is a proud feather in Pakistan’s multifaceted defence industry. 40 kilometres from Pakistan’s capital, the POF defence complex is a symbol of modern technology equipped with ISO 9001 manufacturing all kind of medium and long range ammunition which also includes NATO designation parts and components. Most importantly the defence complex is lending great support to Pakistan’s first indigenously developed MBT Al-Khalid. In a wide ranging interview with Pakistan Observer Lt General Qayyum said that POF is now embarking upon a number of joint ventures with Muslim countries and also some of Pakistan’s South Asian friends which will not only generate economic activity in the region but also encourage greatly the sense of mutual cooperation between the nations of third world countries. Qayyum promises un-interrupted and abundant supplies of arms and ammunitions to country’s armed forces in case of any eventuality. Qayyum also takes great pride in the fact that his weapon-producing complex is also contributing to government’s de-weaponisation campaign by integrating the illegal weapon makers into legal system as a productive member of POF. Smart and agile Chairman of POF Board has established immense personal links with thousands of his employees, which has turned the chain of factories into a huge but cozy family net work where every member works with dedication and conviction. And this is where lies the secret of POF success. General Sahib would you please tell us about inception and evolution of Pakistan’s premier defence production establishment the POF? A.Before 1947 this part of the world was a British colony and the alien rulers had raised some ordnance factories. 16 ordnance factories were raised by them. But when Pakistan came into being we were unlucky that all those fell in eastern India - UP, CP and West Bengal and none came physically to our share. This is because the Britishers used this area (forming Pakistan today) for recruitment of soldiers - present day Punjab and NWFP and as a matter of policy no defence industry was raised in this area. We started from scratch. With the passage of time, with the help of British Royal Ordnance we set up our first factory and subsequently our second Prime Minister, Khawaja Nazmuddin performed ground breaking ceremony of this complex on 28th December, 1951 and that is why we are celebrating golden jubilee of POF on this day. Q. What do you think are the landmarks in the history of your organisation I mean achievements of which you might be proud of? A. Pakistan Ordnance Factories in the context of Pakistan is really a mother defence industry and all other defence set up that have come up were really nursed by it. Our initial 13 years from 1951 to 1964 were utilised for setting up all the necessary infrastructure, import of machines and training of manpower. From 1964 to 1977 we inducted 7.62-mm calibre rifles and munitions technology from Germany. We purchased the technical know-how and established our plants. Thereafter from 1977 to 1990 we set up factories for heavy artillery and artillery munitions. Initially we had plants and machinery set up with the collaboration of British Royal Ordnance but subsequently in late 50s and 60s we got most of the equipment from the United States when President Eisenhover was in power. Then we introduced German and Chinese technology as well. We have a variety of equipment and manufacture ammunition of both eastern and western origin. POF has accepted the challenge of meeting requirements of our armed forces and today we manufacture both NATO standard and eastern standard ammunition. We have added more factories and now we have 14 industries excluding HIT and Air Weapons Complex where reconnaissance aircraft Mushshak has been developed. We are trying to sell Mushshak to Middle-Eastern countries. At HIT facilities Pakistan has produced state-of-the art Al-Khalid tank. We have rebuild facilities at HIT like rebuilding of tanks and APCs. Air Weapons Complex is meeting most of requirements of our Air Force while Shipyard is making ships and assemblying submarines. It is very heartening that we have been able to reinforce our defence and we are today in a position to safeguard geographical frontiers of our motherland on the basis of our own strength. Q. What is your contribution in the development of Al-Khalid? A. You know Al-Khalid is exclusively being manufactured by HIT. POF’s contribution is that we have developed latest state-of-the-art munition for this modern tank. We were able to develop munitions even before the tank rolled out. Q. Which countries you are catering? A. Primarily, Pakistan Ordnance Factories are mandated to meet defence requirements of our own defence forces. However, the surplus capacity of the machines and plants, after meeting requirements of our armed forces, is utilised for meeting requirements of international clients. Since early 70s Pakistan is exporting arms and ammunition to almost all over the world, to all the continents - totalling over 30 countries including United States, Germany, Britain etc. Q. How much foreign exchange you earn for the country through exports? A. Since export of arms and ammunition is the secondary mission, our foreign exchange earnings are modest to the tune of 25 to 30 million dollars per year. We are, however, trying to expand it. Q. Can you meet requirements of the armed forces if some crisis develops? A. We have a system to maintain our reserves. This is decided by the GS Branch of the Pakistan Army. We have achieved the reserve level and are meeting day-to-day requirements of the armed forces. Q. There are concerns that our arms and ammunition might not find its way to wrong hands and there had been some accusing fingers that we provided arms to Taliban. What do you say? A. We follow a foolproof system of exporting our arms and equipment to other countries. We do not sell unless the buyer produces an end-user certificate issued by the government of the importing country. There is no question of our arms or equipment falling into the hands of extremists etc. With regard to Afghanistan, we did not export anything to them. Afghans have enough ammunition since the days of war against Soviet Union, then Northern Alliance had been getting equipment from India and Russia. We keep in mind not to export to those countries who are on ban list and for this purpose we get updates from the Foreign Office. We have our own checks and balances to ensure authenticity of the end user certificate. For this purpose, our embassies abroad are also requested to do the required scrutiny. In fact, we discovered several fake certificates in the past and withheld supply of arms to those parties and confiscated their money. What was impact of sanctions on POF? Sanctions definitely had negative impact on the armed forces. The reason was that most of our equipment was Western origin especially the United States. This was particularly so about spares because sometime indigenous production of spares is not cost effective due to the quantity required. These sanctions were unjust and discriminatory. Pakistan was singed out and therefore our stand was vindicated when the United States initiated moves even before September 11 to remove these sanctions. These sanctions, however, helped us move towards more self-reliance. We undertook the path of indigenisation. Now that sanctions have been lifted we will be getting modern technology. Q. Can you offer training facilities to other countries especially Middle East states? A. We have Institute of Technology primarily meant to train our own engineers in a variety of disciplines including chemical, electrical, mechanical, metallurgical and IT. This conducts courses mostly for our own engineers but now it has been opened for entire Pakistan and especially for other defence industry and private sector. Our facilities are also available for the friendly countries. Recently, 10 engineers from Myanmar got training in hydraulic. Q. What is your vision for future? A. Presently, we have over 15,000 plants and machines and we are meeting defence requirements of our countries. I would like to upgrade them. We have prepared a modernisation plan. It is a phased programme because of the resource constraints. We have plants about 15 to 20 years old. There are new plants in the West and after lifting of sanctions we can get plants from Western Europe and the United States. We are seriously undertaking total computerisation of POF. We are trying to improve the quality of our engineers. Recently, the President has been kind enough to raise the salaries of engineers and hopefully we will now be able to attract more capable people. Q. Can you manufacture smart bombs? A. The selection of the weapon system is done by army. If they decide to have smart munitions of the kind they recommend, we can then undertake the assignment. Q. What is your role in de-weaponisation? A. The Government is very sincere to de-weaponize the society and cut down the militancy. I myself visited the Tribal belt and saw most of those small workshops producing unauthorised weapons. We offered jobs to tribal people in POF so that instead of making Kalashnikov they should be engaged in manufacture of legal arms and their components. I have offered to them establishment of a factory for hunting rifles and shotguns. Also exploring possibility of having such a factory close to their locality and also that they should be provided job in sports industry in Sialkot. Some food processing factories can also be set up to provide alternate means of livelihood to these people. They are very innocent people and are manufacturing arms just to earn their livelihood. Q. What about the quality of your products? A. Quality of our weapons system is as good as that of any advanced country in the world. Our G-3 rifle, sub machine guns, machine guns and their parts sell even in countries like United States, Germany and Canada. We make sure that quality standards are met. We have a very elaborate system of checking quality of weapons at every stage of manufacturing. For this purpose, we have quality Inspectors who are not under me, rather they worked under the GHQ. Moody International. Q. Tell us more about Mushshak aircraft. A. Aeronautical Complex is our sister organisation in defence production. They are doing a fine job for PAF. They are lifelines of our air force. They have assembly and manufacturing facilities. The reconnaissance aircraft Mushshak which is very good both in terms of quality and price competitiveness and in service of Pakistan army, has been developed there. Recently, we have signed a contract with Oman for its supply and negotiating with other countries like Saudi Arabia as well. It is a reliable aircraft on a very good price.