During SHOT Show I had the opportunity to see new plate carrier from Blue Force Gear which featured new attachment system for placards and other pouches.
The Railz Plate Carrier and attachment system will debut during SOF Week, this week in Tampa, Florida.
Visit Blue Force Gear in the SOF Select Pavilion at the Westin to learn more.
Fresh off of a CAPEX last week at Fort Bragg, Ghost Robotics has just participated in multiple operational scenarios for Senior Army Leaders.
Featured in this exercise were VISION 60 Quadruped Unmanned Ground Vehicles controlled by special operators which provided a platform for specialized ISR capabilities.
Ghost Robotics is a manufacturer of ground robots which mimic how mammals move across urban and natural environments offering access to areas denied to other ground vehicles and even humans.
The VISION 60 is designed to accept a variety of Modular Mission Payloads like the ISR capability demonstrated during the CAPEX. It’s versatility is limited by the imagination of the user. That’s why it’s a great platform for USASOC’s robotics course which instructs students how to integrate expedient capabilities.
Visit Ghost Robotics in their demonstration area in the foyer right outside the north doors to the main floor to the expo to learn more about the VISION 60 and its inherent adaptability to mission and terrain.
During next week’s SOF Week at the Tampa Convention Center Haley Strategic Partners will offer the first hands-on glimpse of their work from their new experimental unit named Blackside.
Blackside is made up of personnel that are Jacks of all trades and maintain a lot of experience in the military, law enforcement, and rescue spaces. One of the unique aspects of Blackside is the creative flexibility, outside the box thinking, even breaking all the rules of traditional product design if necessary to get the job done without wasting our tax payer money.
Visit booth 455 where you’ll see their latest products oncluding some that have yet to be seen.
For a preview of some of what will be exhibited at SOF Week, visit haleystrategic.com/products/blackside.
I’ve been questioned quite a bit about why SOFIC is now known as SOF Week. The proper question is, why is it called SOF Week again?
Check out this post from my first month of publishing SSD back in May of 2008. It’s titled “SOF Week” and then goes on to describe things I saw during the Special Operations Forces Industry Conference.
The short answer to why it went from SOF Week to SOFIC and back is vendors. In 2008, SOF Week was managed by a local Tampa company called Meeting Matters Plus. They were the vendor to USSOCOM to host the event and everything was run from their website, registration and all.
Eventually, that transitioned to the National Defense Industrial Association which established the URL www.SOFIC.org. Naturally, everyone just started using that acronym, which just rolled off the tongue to describe the event.
When USSOCOM transitioned vendors to host the event again last year, NDIA still owned the URL so it was a good reason to start referring to the week-long event as the traditional SOF Week which better describes where it’s going in the future.
Now, the Global SOF Foundation supports the four-day SOF Week, presenting SOFIC as well as other meetings and seminars.
By the way, SOF Week is next week so if you’re planning to go, you’d better get your schedule in order.
Don’t mind the typos in that post from 2007. We’ve moved servers like five times since then and the site picks up artifacts every time. They are random and only way I find them is to go back and run across them.
Be sure to attend the 8th Annual Gelande Quaffing and Silent Auction in support of the All In All The Time Foundation on Wednesday 10 May at Harbor Island in front of Jackson’s Bistro during SOF Week in Tampa, FL.
SOF Select will run concurrently with SOF Week at the Westin Tampa Waterside, as in yours past.
Be sure to stop by.
Dock space at SOF Week is now fully booked. Some of the outdoor demos and exhibits will be hands-on, including the ability to get wet.
Visit sofweek.org to register now.
Here are a few updates for SOF Week 2023. First off, registration is now open. Be prepared to share copies of your identification as well as a digital passport sized photo. This is quite common for international shows and will help GSOF and their partner Clarion Events ensure that they conduct a safe and secure event for USSOCOM. Visit sofweek.org to register.
Additionally, PEO 1-on-1 Session Applications close this Friday. They are one of the best opportunities for a small business to get in front of USSOCOM’s program managers.
www.sofweek.org/peo-1-1-meetings
Finally, application for the inaugural SOF Week Innovation Theater close on April 6th. Out of the entire week, this is the event I am most excited about.
This is an opportunity for companies with innovative products, or concepts, to present their technological advances to priority modernization areas and emerging technologies of significant interest to USSOCOM AT&L representatives and USSOCOM SMEs. I’d suggest that you also apply if you are individual or academic organization.
Selected companies will be offered a 20 minute “presentation” slot in the SOF Week Innovation Theater. To learn more, visit www.sofweek.org/sof-week-innovation-theater.
