Frontier Works Organization

Last updated

Frontier Works Organization (FWO)
Frontier Works Organization logo.jpg
Active31 October 1966 present [1]
CountryFlag of Pakistan.svg  Pakistan
BranchFlag of the Pakistani Army.svg  Pakistan Army
Headquarters/GarrisonFWO HeadQuarter Rawalpindi,
Nickname(s)(FWO)
Anniversaries 31 October
Equipment Engineering vehicles
Engagements Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
Operation Parakram
War in North-West Pakistan Operation Restoration
Operation Rah-e-Nijat
Website www.fwo.com.pk
Commanders
Current
commander
Major-General Abdul Sami
Director General
Aircraft flown
Transport Bell 206 Jet Ranger

The Frontier Works Organization (); abbreviated as FWO), is a military engineering organization, and one of the major science and technology commands of the Pakistan Army. Commissioned and established in 1966, the FWO includes active duty officers and civilian scientists and engineers. Since its establishment in 1966, it has been credited with the construction of bridges, roads, tunnels, airfields and dams in Pakistan, on the orders of the civilian government of Pakistan. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Its objectives include projects related to civil, construction, combat, structural, and military engineering and is commanded by Maj Gen Kamal Azfar. The FWO led the design and construction of the Karakoram Highway. It builds civil and military infrastructure for the Government of Pakistan and the Pakistan Armed Forces. [2]

Main businesses of FWO

Karakoram Highway Project

In the late 1960s, the Government of Pakistan and Government of China wished to construct a road link between Pakistan and the China. The task was assigned to the Pakistan Army. The army using its Corps of Engineers had already worked in 1959 in connecting Gilgit with Pakistan through the Indus Valley Road. [1]

In the summer of 1966, a military organization was created by the Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers for the construction of the 805-kilometre long Karakoram Highway Road (commonly called KKH). [1]

The funding was provided by the Ministry of Communications which exercised their control over the project on behalf of government of Pakistan. Thus was born the organization known as FWO which later on, in collaboration with the Chinese military engineers, undertook the gigantic task. ML1 inclusion is also there. [1]

Projects with Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission

The FWO began working with the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) in December 1985. The FWO completed the engineering design in 1986 and constructed the Uranium mining facility at Baghalchur in February 1987. The construction of Khushab Nuclear Complex began somewhere in 1986, then FWO joined PAEC in 1987. The FWO started to established an Army Bridge Camp/Base Depot near at the Khushab, and has completed the project under one month.

In 1986, the FWO constructed the nuclear dump waste management plant at the Baghalchur Facility under the code name, Baghalchur Project. The Baghalchur Project was completed in January 1989. The same year and month, the FWO was assigned to conduct the site preparation for the Khushab Reactor, and work was completed in May 1989. In November, 1988, The FWO built the Additional Link Road under the codename "Phase- lV Base Depot Khushab". The project was completed in May 1991.

In October 1990, the FWO was assigned the task of constructing a uranium mining and milling facilityin Thola Dagar, Punjab. The FWO completed the survey and feasibility studies in three months and the construction of the mining facility was completed in October 1991.

The FWO alongside another military organization, the Special Development Works (SDW), (both of which fall under the Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers (PACE)) were involved in the construction of tunnels at Chagai, Balochistan in the late 1980s in preparation for the Chagai-I nuclear test which was eventually carried out on 25 May 1998. [4] The military scientists and engineers of the Corps of Engineers, FWO, and SDW were also present during the nuclear test at Kharan Desert, codename Chagai-II.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pakistan and weapons of mass destruction</span>

Pakistan is one of nine states that possess nuclear weapons. Pakistan began developing nuclear weapons in January 1972 under Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who delegated the program to the Chairman of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) Munir Ahmad Khan with a commitment to having the device ready by the end of 1976. Since PAEC, which consisted of over twenty laboratories and projects under reactor physicist Munir Ahmad Khan, was falling behind schedule and having considerable difficulty producing fissile material, Abdul Qadeer Khan, a metallurgist working on centrifuge enrichment for Urenco, joined the program at the behest of the Bhutto administration by the end of 1974. Producing fissile material was pivotal to the Kahuta Project's success and thus to Pakistan obtaining the capability to detonate a nuclear weapon by the end of 1984.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karakoram Highway</span> International highway running through Pakistan and China

The Karakoram Highway, also known as the KKH, National Highway 35, N-35, and the China–Pakistan Friendship Highway, is a 1,300 km (810 mi) national highway which extends from Hasan Abdal in the Punjab province of Pakistan to the Khunjerab Pass in Gilgit-Baltistan, where it crosses into China and becomes China National Highway 314. The highway connects the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa plus Gilgit-Baltistan with China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The highway is a popular tourist attraction and is one of the highest paved roads in the world, passing through the Karakoram mountain range, at 36°51′00″N75°25′40″E at maximum elevation of 4,714 m (15,466 ft) near Khunjerab Pass. Due to its high elevation and the difficult conditions under which it was constructed, it is often referred to as the Eighth Wonder of the World. The highway is also a part of the Asian Highway AH4.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission</span> Pakistani governmental agency

Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) is a federally funded independent governmental agency, concerned with research and development of nuclear power, promotion of nuclear science, energy conservation and the peaceful use of nuclear technology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ras Koh Range</span> Pakistan Ministry of Defense range in Balochistan

The Ras Koh Range is a granite mountain range and a reservation of the Ministry of Defense located between the districts of Chagai and Kharan of Balochistan in Pakistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chagai-I</span> Pakistans first successful nuclear weapons test (1998)

Chagai-I is the code name of five simultaneous underground nuclear tests conducted by Pakistan at 15:15 hrs PKT on 28 May 1998. The tests were performed at Ras Koh Hills in the Chagai District of Balochistan Province.

Baghalchur is a reservation of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) located in the D.G. Khan District in Punjab, Pakistan. In official Pakistani government accounts, the reservation is known as Baghalchur-1 (BC-1).

Khushab Nuclear Complex is a plutonium production nuclear reactor and heavy water complex situated 30 kilometres (19 mi) south of the town of Jauharabad in Khushab District, Punjab, Pakistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ishfaq Ahmad Khan</span> Pakistani nuclear physicist (1930–2018)

Ishfaq Ahmad KhanSI, HI, NI, FPAS, was a Pakistani nuclear physicist, emeritus professor of high-energy physics at the National Centre for Physics, and former science advisor to the Government of Pakistan.

The political history of Pakistan is the narrative and analysis of political events, ideas, movements, and leaders of Pakistan. Pakistan gained independence from the United Kingdom on 14 August 1947, when the Presidencies and provinces of British India were divided by the United Kingdom, in a region which is commonly referred to as the Indian subcontinent. Since its independence, Pakistan has had a colorful yet turbulent political history at times, often characterized by martial law and inefficient leadership.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Munir Ahmad Khan</span> Pakistani nuclear physicist (1926–1999)

Munir Ahmad Khan, NI, HI, FPAS, was a Pakistani nuclear engineer who is credited, among others, with being the "father of the atomic bomb program" of Pakistan for their leading role in developing their nation's nuclear weapons during the successive years after the war with India in 1971.

Ummah Tameer-e-Nau (UTN), is a militant organization banned by the United States Department of Treasury on December 20, 2001. It was also placed on the Patriot Act Terrorist Exclusion List. It is suspected of supplying information about constructing nuclear weapons to Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda.

Anwar Ali is a Pakistani physicist and a computer programmer, who served as the Chairman of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) from 2006 until 2009. His scientific career is spent at the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission as a computational physicist and played a key scientific role his nation's secret nuclear deterrent program.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Project-706</span> Code name for Pakistans Nuclear Bomb Program

Project-706, also known as Project-786 was the codename of a research and development program to develop Pakistan's first nuclear weapons. The program was initiated by Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in 1974 in response to the Indian nuclear tests conducted in May 1974. During the course of this program, Pakistani nuclear scientists and engineers developed the requisite nuclear infrastructure and gained expertise in the extraction, refining, processing and handling of fissile material with the ultimate goal of designing a nuclear device. These objectives were achieved by the early 1980s with the first successful cold test of a Pakistani nuclear device in 1983. The two institutions responsible for the execution of the program were the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission and the Kahuta Research Laboratories, led by Munir Ahmed Khan and Abdul Qadeer Khan respectively. In 1976 an organization called Special Development Works (SDW) was created within the Pakistan Army, directly under the Chief of the Army Staff (Pakistan) (COAS). This organization worked closely with PAEC and KRL to secretly prepare the nuclear test sites in Baluchistan and other required civil infrastructure.

Zahid Ali AkbarHI(M), SBt, PE, is a former engineering officer in the Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers, known for his role in Pakistan's acquisition of nuclear weapons, and directing the Engineering Research Laboratories (ERL), a top secret research facility developing the clandestine atom bomb project.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Defence Science & Technology Organisation</span> Pakistani multi-disciplinary, research and development agency

The Defence Science & Technology Organisation is a multi-disciplinary, research and development agency under the National Engineering and Scientific Commission (NESCOM) of Pakistan, dedicated for evaluation of science and technology for use by the military.

Chagai-II is the codename assigned to the second atomic test conducted by Pakistan, carried out on 30 May 1998 in the Kharan Desert in Balochistan Province of Pakistan. Chagai-II took place two days after Pakistan's first successful test, Chagai-I, which was carried out on 28 May 1998 in the Ras Koh area in Chagai District, Balochistan, Pakistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers</span> Pakistan army staff corps for public & construction works.

The Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers is a military administrative and the engineering staff branch of the Pakistan Army. The Corps of Engineers is generally associated with the civil engineering works, dams, canals, and flood protection, it performs and leads variety of public works in the country as part of its nation-building mission.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reconstruction of the Karakoram Highway</span> Overview of the reconstruction of the Chinese–Pakistani Karakoram Highway

As part of the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor, reconstruction and upgrade works are underway on the 887-kilometre-long (551 mi) National Highway 35 (N-35), which forms the Pakistani portion of the Karakoram Highway (KKH).

Strategic Highway 1 (S-1), also known as the Gilgit–Skardu Road or Skardu Road, is a 167-kilometre-long highway in Pakistan that links the cities of Gilgit and Skardu in Gilgit−Baltistan. It was constructed by the Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers and the Association of Chinese Engineers from 1970 to 1982.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">India–China Border Roads</span> Indian government project to develop border roads

India–China Border Roads is a Government of India project for developing infrastructure along the Sino-Indian border by constructing strategic roads, including bridges and tunnels. The ICBR project is largely in response to Chinese infrastructure development along the borderlands with India. Several entities are responsible for constructing ICBR, including Border Roads Organisation (BRO) which handles the bulk of the ICBR road construction work, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL), Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (MoDNER), Central Public Works Department (CPWD), public works departments of respective states and others. At least 67 per cent of the road network assigned to BRO falls under ICBR.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Celebrating 54th Raising Day Frontier Works Organization Business Recorder (newspaper), Published 3 November 2020, Retrieved 15 January 2021
  2. 1 2 Company Profile of Frontier Works Organization on Dun & Bradstreet.com website Retrieved 15 January 2021
  3. "Musharraf praises army for rehabilitating Sukkur barrage (Frontier Works Organization project)". Daily Times (newspaper). Associated Press of Pakistan. 27 March 2005. Archived from the original on 22 October 2012. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  4. "When Mountains Move – The Story of Chagai". Defence Journal website. Archived from the original on 1 April 2012. Retrieved 15 January 2021.