SOF Week
SOF Week is the annual convention of the global special operations community, co-hosted in Tampa by U.S. Special Operations Command and the Global SOF Foundation. It replaced the Special Operations Forces Industry Conference in 2023 and has grown into a roughly 20,000-person event with more than 800 exhibitors and delegations from more than 60 nations. For industry it is the largest concentrated exposure of the year to SOCOM’s program executive offices, its science and technology directorate, and the international SOF partner network.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Command-sponsored professional conference and industry exhibition |
| Sponsor | USSOCOM, co-hosted with the Global_SOF_Foundation |
| Location | Tampa_Convention_Center and surrounding downtown venues, Tampa, Florida |
| Frequency | Annual, held each May |
| First held | May 8 to 11, 2023 |
| Typical scale | About 20,000 attendees, more than 800 exhibitors, government and military delegations from more than 60 nations |
Overview
SOF Week is not an exercise. It is the command’s yearly convening of the entire special operations enterprise: operators, component and theater special operations command staffs, acquisition professionals, allied and partner-nation SOF leadership, veterans’ organizations, families, and industry. The Global_SOF_Foundation runs the event under a co-sponsorship arrangement with USSOCOM, with Clarion Events as the exhibition operator.
The week is deliberately structured so that the requirements side of the command and the acquisition side of the command are both accessible in the same building at the same time. SOF_AT_L, the USSOCOM_S_T directorate, the program executive offices, and SOFWERX all brief publicly during the week, and several of those briefings are released under Distribution A and posted to socom.mil afterward. That makes SOF Week the most reliable annual public disclosure of SOCOM’s technology roadmap, its experimentation calendar, and its small business investment posture.
History
The predecessor event was the Special Operations Forces Industry Conference, known as SOFIC, run for USSOCOM by the National Defense Industrial Association. In July 2022, NDIA announced that SOCOM would not execute SOFIC in 2023. SOCOM instead selected the Global SOF Foundation, which had produced SOF-specific symposia in the United States and Europe since 2015, to run a broader replacement event under a two-year memorandum of understanding. GSOF partnered with Clarion Events, a UK-based exhibition organizer, to deliver the trade floor.
GSOF president Stuart Bradin framed the change as a shift from a trade show to a convention, describing SOF Week as a national convention for U.S. SOF with a more diverse slate of programs including professional development sessions and family-focused programming. The inaugural SOF Week ran May 8 to 11, 2023, in Tampa. The 2024 edition expanded the international component. By 2025 the event had passed 19,000 attendees and 800 exhibitors, and the 2026 edition hosted an International Commander’s Forum with representation reported from 73 nations.
What happens
The week follows a consistent shape.
- Monday. Industry-facing day. Sessions on SOF acquisition, technology and logistics, the science and technology portfolio, and SOFWERX partnering mechanisms. In 2026 Monday also carried a veteran entrepreneurship track built around transition, branding, acquisition planning, and financial readiness. The day closes with a welcome reception, historically at Sparkman Wharf.
- Tuesday through Thursday. Exhibition halls open, organized by functional area rather than by company: SOF Warrior, Special Air Warfare, Maritime, Information Systems, Digital Applications, and Human Performance and Wellness among them. Concurrent tracks run keynotes, leadership panels, operator-led discussions, and thought-leadership presentations on irregular warfare, current conflicts, and emerging technology.
- Capability demonstration. USSOCOM stages a public capability demonstration on the Tampa Riverwalk on a biennial rhythm. There was no Riverwalk demonstration in 2025. The 2026 demonstration ran midday on May 20 with public viewing along the Riverwalk, Harbour Island, and Bayshore Boulevard.
- The Outpost. An outdoor annex used for large aviation static displays, live demonstrations, and an expanded Special Air Warfare zone. It ran May 19 to 21 in 2026.
- Thursday evening. The USSOCOM annual awards ceremony and dinner.
Industry matchmaking, team theaters, and one-on-one program office engagements run throughout. Access to the government-only portions is credential-gated. The exhibition floor and most plenary content are open to registered attendees.
Why it matters
SOF Week is upstream of buying rather than a buying event. Nothing is procured on the floor. What happens is that program executive offices state what they are looking for, the science and technology directorate publishes its capability area priorities and its forward experimentation calendar, and the SBIR and STTR program office states its budget and its transition performance.
The 2025 USSOCOM_S_T briefing is a concrete example of the event’s value as an open-source artifact. It disclosed the forward Technical_Experimentation schedule, including TE 25-3 in September 2025 in North Carolina and TE 26-1 in January 2026 in Florida, plus the Rapid Capability Assessment and Foundry and Rapid Prototyping cycles. The SBIR and STTR transition panel disclosed a fiscal 2025 award budget of $45 million across 57 ongoing and new awards, and a 40 percent Phase II to Phase III transition rate that the command described as the highest in the Defense Department.
For a company, exhibiting signals nothing on its own. The event is useful as the place to identify which program office owns a given capability gap, to find the government sponsor a company will later need for events such as Trident Spectre, and to time submissions against the published experimentation and solicitation calendar.
Participants
- USSOCOM headquarters, SOF_AT_L, USSOCOM_S_T
- Component commands: USASOC, AFSOC, Naval_Special_Warfare_Command, MARSOC, JSOC
- Theater special operations commands, including SOCPAC, SOCEUR, SOCCENT, SOCAF, SOCSOUTH, SOCNORTH, SOCKOR
- Program executive offices, including PEO_SOF_Warrior, PEO_Maritime, PEO_Fixed_Wing, PEO_Tactical_Information_Systems, PEO_SOF_Digital_Applications
- SOFWERX and the USSOCOM Office of Small Business Programs
- The Global_SOF_Foundation and Clarion Events
- Partner-nation SOF delegations from more than 60 countries
- Senior civilian and military leadership. The 2025 edition drew King Abdullah II of Jordan, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, and USSOCOM commander Gen. Bryan Fenton.
Recent iterations
- SOF Week 2025, May 5 to 8, 2025, Tampa Convention Center. Theme: “Global SOF: The Asymmetric Strategic Option for a Volatile World.” More than 800 exhibitors and representatives from more than 60 countries. The City of Tampa projected roughly 20,000 attendees and more than $17.5 million in local economic impact, and confirmed that the Riverwalk capabilities demonstration would not run that year because it is biennial. (City of Tampa, SOF News)
- SOF Week 2025 content. USSOCOM leadership used the week to argue that humans matter more than hardware and to press for faster modernization cycles. Gen. Fenton described SOF as the asymmetric scalpel. Acquisition executive Melissa Johnson emphasized multi-domain integration and interoperable systems. (DVIDS)
- SOF Week 2026, May 18 to 21, 2026, Tampa Convention Center. Nearly 20,000 attendees, 178 speakers, and an estimated $19 million economic impact. The USSOCOM capability demonstration returned on May 20. Reporting emphasized drones and maritime capability as the dominant themes. (FOX 13 Tampa Bay)
- SOF Week 2027, May 3 to 6, 2027, Tampa. Announced. (sofweek.org)
Sources
- SOF Week official site, Global SOF Foundation and USSOCOM, accessed August 2026. Event dates for 2026 and 2027, co-host statement, event structure.
- City of Tampa, “Increased Traffic and Road Closure During SOF Week at Tampa Convention Center,” May 2025. SOF Week 2025 dates, attendance projection, economic impact, biennial capability demonstration note.
- SOF News, “SOF Week 2025”. Daily structure, exhibitor count, theme, speaker list.
- DVIDS, “Special Operations Forces Week comes together to focus on the warrior ethos,” May 2025. Leadership remarks and 2025 conference content.
- FOX 13 Tampa Bay, “Special Operations Forces Week returns to Tampa,” May 2026. SOF Week 2026 dates, attendance, speaker count, economic impact, capability demonstration timing.
- Soldier Systems Daily, “GSOF To Host SOF Week In Place Of SOFIC,” July 15, 2022. NDIA announcement, SOCOM selection of GSOF, two-year memorandum of understanding.
- Global SOF Foundation, “Global SOF Foundation and its Partner Clarion Events announces new co-sponsorship with USSOCOM”. Co-sponsorship structure, Clarion Events role, framing of SOF Week versus SOFIC.
- USSOCOM SOF AT&L Science and Technology Deep Dive, SOF Week 2025 briefing slides, PDF, Distribution A. 2025 theme banner, capability areas, forward experimentation calendar.
- USSOCOM SBIR/STTR Transition panel, SOF Week 2025 briefing slides, PDF, Distribution A. Fiscal 2025 SBIR and STTR budget, award counts, transition rate.
- DVIDS, U.S. Special Operations Command unit page, accessed August 2026. SOF Week 2026 International Commander’s Forum, 73 nations.