This blog is about the 2025 Indo-Pacific Irregular Warfare Symposium, which took place in Bangkok, Thailand from 19 – 21 AUG 2025.
Wednesday, 20 August, was busy well before show time. Sponsors put the final touches on their booth spaces, the A/V team did final rehearsals, and the registration desk was bustling with attendees from around the globe.
And when we say bustling, we mean kind of crazy. There were hundreds of Thai Military representatives arriving en masse…and while that was very exciting for us and our attendees, it did overwhelm our badge printers just a little bit.
However, our team persevered and got the patient uniformed representatives safely through the door to kick off the first full day of the 2025 GSOF Indo-Pacific Irregular Warfare Symposium!
Gratitude toward our Thai Partnerships
If Day One was about making connections, Day Two of the Symposium was about building upon them and finding more common ground.
With coffee flowing and uniforms from around the world filling the halls of The Athenee Crystal Ballrooms, today marked the official launch of the symposium’s core programming. The energy was high, the agenda was stacked, and every session delivered insights into the challenges—and opportunities—facing SOF and irregular warfare practitioners across the Indo-Pacific.
The morning kicked off with welcome remarks from a familiar face in the GSOF orbit, Ms. Meaghan Keeler, Chief Operating Officer of Global SOF. Meaghan welcomed attendees with a message about the importance of partnerships in addressing irregular threats across this vast region, and with the help of Stu Bradin, Global SOF President and CEO, we presented shields of appreciation to three of our Thai Partners.
We did mess it up a little bit on the stage, so we want to ensure that everyone knows exactly who we thanked for supporting this event:
- The Royal Thai Armed Forces, represented by General Songwit Noonpakdee
- The Counter Terrorist Operations Center, represented by General Sumat Promtrut
- The Defence Technology Institute, represented by General Charat Oumsumrit
A huge thank you again to each organization, its leadership, and its action officers for supporting the planning and execution of this event for over two years!
Next on the stage was a long-time Global SOF Advisor, Brigadier (Ret.) Mark Smethurst, DSC, AM, Director at Unleash Consulting Pty Ltd, who, along with Thai counterparts, served as the week’s Master of Ceremonies.
The MC team thanked the event Sponsors, including the Title Sponsor, L3 Harris, and provided more welcoming and housekeeping remarks.
Setting the regional tone, General Songwit Noonpakdee, Chief of Defence Forces for the Royal Thai Armed Forces, delivered opening remarks that underscored Thailand’s commitment to international SOF cooperation and regional stability.
He drove home the message behind the event theme, stating that, “advanced technology greatly helps us SOF operators so it’s important to engage with industry partners at this event.”
He also spoke to the importance of our intertwined community. “When I enter this room, I feel the vibes of being among family since I’m surrounded by my SOF colleagues.”
The first panel continued to weave connective tissue for the event theme. Titled “Why Thailand?”, speakers dove into the Kingdom’s strategic positioning, national defense modernization, and growing role as a regional defense hub.
The panel opened with remarks from General Charat Oumsumrit, Director General of the Defense Technology Institute (DTI), who highlighted that Thailand offers several advantages for industry such as its strategic location for ASEAN, focus on aerospace and electronics, and government support for joint ventures.
After the General’s opening, Ms. Eman Blair, Senior VP for Technology Advancement at Pentagon Federal Credit Union, led a panel that included many subject matter experts, including:
- Colonel Ampun Janpengpen (Ph.D), Deputy Director, Defense Technology Institute (DTI), Thailand and Government Defense Industry Initiatives
- Mr. Skip Arny, Vice President of International Business Development, AEVEX Aerospace
- Mr. Michael Windfeldt, President & CEO, Maxim Defense Industries
- Mr. Tom Huntley, Vice President, Government Relations & Defense, REGENT Craft
COL Ampun highlighted that Thailand will protect intellectual property, has a very capable workforce, and offers financial incentives to make it easier for foreign companies to operate and establish manufacturing in this country–all attractive points to any industry seeking this opportunity.
The panel did address that there are challenges, of course, to building foreign business in Thailand.
For Mr. Arny, he noted that, “It’s really US export policies that pose the most significant challenges to doing foreign business for US defense companies.” He also talked about the fact that small companies can move faster to innovate and meet requirements, while large companies have more resources to address regulatory challenges.
He also shared helpful bullets for companies to consider what countries to pursue business in by looking at:
- What is the country’s DoD budget?
- What is the country’s acquisition process?
- Will the military use this product?
This panel was a fantastic building block for any members of the defense industry interested in pursuing opportunities both in Thailand and across the globe!
Golden Opportunities (and Golden Gloves)
Networking is one of the most important parts of any Global SOF event.
As one Thai military attendee said: “This event is very good…we never get to meet so many of our international partners here in Asia. Since it’s not as formal as we’re used to, we’re getting a good opportunity to talk and engage, which is very valuable.”
To that end, we encouraged all of the event attendees to take full advantage of multiple networking breaks throughout the day—morning, midday, and afternoon—to explore the sponsor exhibition hall.
The Hall in Crystal A became a central hub of informal engagement and discovery. From cutting-edge capabilities in ISR, communications, cyber resilience, and counter-drone technologies, to agile logistics solutions and training platforms, the exhibit space featured a diverse array of offerings from global defense companies, small innovators, and regional specialists alike.
But it wasn’t just about the gear. The exhibit hall served as a crossroads of conversation, where SOF professionals, defense officials, and industry leaders could dive into capability discussions, build rapport, and swap insights across ranks, uniforms, and sectors. Delegations from across the Indo-Pacific—Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Thailand, the U.S., and others—could be found huddled at tables or viewing product demos on tablet screens.
Whether over coffee, a cold Thai Tea, or an entire meal, these networking windows gave attendees the space to move beyond the podium and connect on a human level.
The Global SOF booth also hosted an additional incentive to visit the hall…to win the Golden Gloves! We brought in a real pair of Muay Thai gloves that would be awarded to the person who visited the most sponsors the fastest…but you’ll have to wait until the final day to see who took home the coveted prize!
In short, the exhibit hall wasn’t just a break from sessions—it was an extension of the mission: to foster trust, deepen cooperation, and bring the irregular warfare ecosystem together under one crystal-laden roof.
Irregular Warfare: Training for Reality
Back in the general session, Dr. Dennis Walters, Director of the Irregular Warfare Center (IWC) laid out three pillars of the Center’s mission:
- Preparing SOF for irregular warfare,
- Transforming the global mindset for emerging threats, and
- Operationalizing IW concepts through experimentation.
Dr. Walters’ final bullet was a great segue into the next presentation, which transitioned us from training and education into current Situation Reports from SOF representatives from New Zealand, Australia, The Philippines, and Papua New Guinea.
Colonel Chris Gray, Special Operations Commander – New Zealand, opened with three personal stories that illustrated the value of international SOF partnerships. He also framed the discussion by listing 10 significant events since the 2024 IPIW, reminding the audience just how dynamic the international security environment is.
Major General Garth Gould, CSC, DSM, Special Operations Commander – Australia, discussed Australia’s 2024 National Defense Strategy, highlighting national priorities, including:
- Long-range strike,
- Growth of the defense workforce,
- Strengthening northern bases,
- And deeper Indo-Pacific partnerships.
He discussed how AUS SOF contributes to these priorities through their support to deterrence with persistent presence, intergenerational relationships, and interoperability. He also noted that AUS SOCOM is adapting its training, embracing autonomy and electromagnetic maneuver, and investing in high-performance workforce models that prioritize agility over size.
Brigadier General Ferdinand Abad, Philippines SOF, noted: “The Philippines has over 60 years of experience fighting internal threats. But now, our focus is shifting to territorial defense.”
He emphasized the challenge of logistics and stressed the importance of a shared regional understanding of the threat landscape.
Finally, Colonel Steven Kagena, Papua New Guinea, explained that PNG’s young and under-resourced defense force faces persistent internal security challenges, including tribal conflict and gang violence. Kagena stressed the need for regional partnerships, especially with Australia, the U.S., New Zealand, and Indonesia.
We were thrilled to see and hear so much emphasis on partnerships, both in and beyond the region!
Keynotes from Key Voices
After more networking and meeting opportunities, the attendees returned to the Symposium Theater to hear from General (Ret.) Jerdwut Kraprayoon, Advisor to the Senate Committee on Military and National Security for Thailand.
He delivered a compelling keynote on the changing face of irregular warfare, noting: “IW is not a contest of arms; it is a contest of minds.”
He laid out four pillars of effective strategic intelligence:
- Threat anticipation using AI and predictive analytics
- Capability matching (i.e., don’t bring a sledgehammer to fix a watch)
- Faster decision cycles between detection and action
- Industrial resilience—“you can’t out-resource every threat, but you can out-think them.”
Emerging trends that he highlighted included in IW environments:
- AI-driven misinformation
- Blurring of criminal and military actors
- Economic sabotage
- Autonomous system proliferation
We saved a very impressive speaker for the day’s closing keynote: Lieutenant General Joshua M. Rudd, Deputy Commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.
LTG Rudd reinforced the unique power of this community: “No one does partnerships better than SOF.”
He organized his message around three T’s:
- Trust: The foundation of SOF operations and multinational success.
- Tech: “My message to industry is one word: accelerate.”
- Training: From large-scale exercises like Talisman Sabre to smaller exchanges, Rudd highlighted training as the engine of long-term interoperability and credibility.
“SOF’s ability to relentlessly problem-solve and our commitment to partnerships is what sets us up for success,” he emphasized.
To wrap up this recap, the key themes from Wednesday, 20 AUG, included:
- Irregular warfare is not a U.S.-only challenge—it’s a shared regional responsibility.
- SOF continues to be the flexible, scalable, and reliable option for operating in ambiguity.
- Partnerships—especially in training, industry, and strategy—are the Indo-Pacific’s best weapon.
- Thailand is not just hosting; it’s leading.
Stay tuned for the final blog of the Symposium, coming soon! In the meantime, check out the updated photo album with pictures from Day 2!!
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