"witnessed the tests and trials of locally designed and manufactured arms and ammunition," the Inter-Services Public Relations said after Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir's visit to Pakistan Ordnance Factories at Wah on 29 August 2026.
Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir's inspection at POF, Wah
On 29 August 2026 the chief of army staff and chief of defence forces, Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, visited Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POF) at Wah, the ISPR reported. The public account notes the CDF “witnessed the tests and trials of locally designed and manufactured arms and ammunition.” Quwa recorded that the CDF’s review covered projects “from a new gas-operated assault rifle to new quadcopter-compatible drop munitions.” The visit, as presented, mixed live demonstrations and briefings on development progress.
The new gas-operated assault rifle and the MoDP Yearbook listing
POF displayed an assault rifle it had not shown publicly before; Quwa highlighted that this was part of the items reviewed by the CDF. The likeliest identity for that rifle is the MoDP Yearbook 2022–2024 entry labelled “Gas Op Rifle.” The Yearbook classifies the Gas Op Rifle and a “CW-56 Rifle” as under development with 2027 target dates, while listing a “BW-20 Rifle” and a “CW-39 Rifle” as under trials with 2025 dates. Taken together, the public record places the newly photographed rifle within a set of formal MoDP timelines and nomenclature.
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See what we buildPOF's small-arms pipeline: at least four in-house designs
According to the consolidated information, the rifle shown at Wah is one of at least four in-house POF designs currently in the pipeline. The Yearbook items (Gas Op Rifle, CW-56, BW-20, CW-39) supply target years and trial status. POF’s small-arms work follows earlier unveilings: BW20 and BW21 were revealed in December 2021, and the PK18 and PK21 models preceded those. The sequence of public disclosures and the Yearbook entries together indicate an ongoing, multi-model small-arms effort at POF rather than a single ad hoc project.
Corporatisation under the DIPRA Ordinance and industrial expansion
The ISPR also reported that the CDF received “an overview of the progress on the corporatisation process following the enactment of the Defence Industrial Production and Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DIPRA) Ordinance.” In the same brief, POF said it is installing “two new industrial plants, which are likely to commence production by the end of [the] current year.” The visit therefore combined weapons trials with a status update on organisational change and capacity expansion tied to the DIPRA legal framework.
How procurement leaders, POF engineers, and defence regulators are likely to respond
- Procurement leaders: They will be watching the MoDP Yearbook timelines — the 2025 trial dates for BW-20 and CW-39 and the 2027 development targets for the Gas Op Rifle and CW-56 — alongside the promised start of production at two new POF plants by the end of 2026.
- POF engineers and program managers: The CDF’s attendance at tests and trials provides an explicit stamp of senior-level oversight; engineers will continue iterative testing of the gas-operated design and any quadcopter-compatible drop munitions shown during the visit.
- Defence regulators and DIPRA implementers: The corporatisation briefing indicates regulators will be engaged with POF’s structural transition under the DIPRA Ordinance as new production lines come online.
POF’s public demonstration and the Yearbook entries together create a near-term cadence: trials that were reported as under way for some models, development targets set for others, and new plant capacity expected before the close of 2026. The record supplied by the ISPR and the MoDP Yearbook places the new rifle within a broader, scheduled effort rather than as an isolated reveal — and positions the corporatisation process and expanded production capacity as immediate operational variables to watch.
