This is the fourth and final blog in our GSOF Symposium – Europe series, focused on our 6th Annual Symposium in Europe! This rendition takes place in Budapest, Hungary, from 4 – 6 OCT 2022.
#GSOFeurope
Read all the blogs in this series, here.
We hope everyone had a fantastic evening in Budapest! It may not get some of the visibility of other European cities, but the architecture, people, food, and wine have proven to be some of the best our team has experienced. We are big fans!
But all good things must come to an end–or at least an “end…for now!” Read on to learn about the last day of GSOF Symposium – Europe in Budapest.
“Toys, Tools, and Equipment” for Ukraine
Thursday began on the early side of another gorgeous Hungarian morning with a SOF Roundtable.
Previously called a “SOF Commanders Roundtable,” we changed the name this year to reflect that we wanted ALL military representatives to participate. This gave 35+ military and government attendees the chance to get together and discuss common issues in an open format.
The SOF Roundtable was chaired by Major General Tamás Sándor, the Commander of Special Operations Forces, Hungary, and hosted by the Commander of Special Operations of Ukraine, Brigadier General Viktor Khorenko.
The participants, mostly commanders representing SOF from more than 15 nations and NATO SOF, spent more than an hour asking what they could do to support Ukrainian special operations. The overarching message coming out of the roundtable was that there needed to be a synchronization effort of the aid–materiel–coming into the country; there are many nations and organizations that are giving but managing the inflow takes a lot of human resources to track and process.
Ideally, there would be requirements going to a single organization that could act as a clearing house for matching demand and supply. Additionally, it would be helpful for other nations to collectively think several steps ahead in terms of the conflict to help anticipate what Ukrainian SOF may need rather than standing by for requests; this would represent a “push” of aid in addition to the “pull” from Ukrainian requests.
It was agreed that a catalog of “toys, tools, and equipment” available and/or on offer along with a central coordinating hub would be extremely beneficial. In line with both the desire for other nations to anticipate future Ukrainian needs and the need for a centralized clearing house, a “table of equipment” would be very helpful that stated the items needed that could be delivered in kits or set packages.
Clearly, it was a valuable conversation!
“Committed to SOF”
After the SOF Roundtable broke, it was time for some Lilt-sponsored coffee and then preparation for the first full session of the day: a keynote by Mr. Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky, the Minister of Defence for Hungary.
For this session, we let in every attendee, no matter the badge type, to pay respect to our host nation. The Minister talked about his Nation’s obstacles toward security, and said that “we remain very committed to the development and support of our SOF.”
As one of the EU Nations expected to hit the 2% GDP defense spending goal next year, it’s great to hear that SOF remains on the forefront of that spending.
Following the Minister’s remarks, we rolled right into our SOF Slams, which are shorter, more focused talks that teach attendees about SOF-relevant topics or trends.
The first SOF Slam was by Mr. Matt Smith, the Director of Analysis at Shephard Media. He addressed the current defense spending in Europe and covered what is happening specifically in the UAS market. Additionally, the session touched on the forecast for UAS spending, industry capability in Europe and key programs, the implications of UAS proliferation, and where we expect technology to focus in the future — particularly around the smaller systems that are suited to SOF.
The second SOF Slam was initially supposed to follow the UAS trend, but the speaker was unable to come at the last minute. However, we were able to fill-in with one of our speakers from the DISTEC Theatre (more on that in a minute) who had a packed house there the day prior. As always, flexibility at these events is KEY.
Mr. Michael Grochol, CEO of one of our newest Partners, IronEagleX, filled in to speak about the rapid development and deployment of custom designed Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition, and Reconnaissance (or ISTAR) and geographic information systems applications while leveraging a user-centered design. It was great to have Mike join us on both the main stage and the DISTEC stage this week!
Our next speaker joined us from next year’s host Nation, Brigadier General Ladislav Rebilas, the SOF Director for the Czech Republic and one of our most dedicated “ring game players” (see day 1 blog).
He spoke about “Instruments of Innovation,” addressing the challenges and preconditions for success to achieve “sustainable, innovative capability as necessary tools for permanent relevancy.”
One attendee exclaimed to me after, “I need to talk to him, I think I have the solution he needs!” These are the types of post-session discussions we love to see happening, and why it’s so important for us to have these events to mutually benefit our “good guy network.”
The final panel of the morning was focused on a recurring topic at our event: “Growing SOF Aviation.” The war in Ukraine has shown repeatedly that this remains a glaring capability hole for many Nations, so we were glad to convene the following experts to discuss this issue:
- Moderator: Colonel (Ret.) Matt Karres, Director, SOCOM Programs – Communications Systems, L3Harris
- Brigadier General Philip J. Ryan, Commanding General – U.S. Army Special Operations Aviation Command
- Ms. Jeanne Connor-Osborn, Director of Special Missions – Textron Aviation
- Lieutenant Colonel René Van Riet, Royal Air Force, Netherlands – NSHQ Air Development Programme
They had a vibrant discussion and it was great to hear their different perspectives before rolling into the last lunch of the day (and… the last chance to visit the Exhibit Hall).
DISTEC Theatre
Throughout the two days of the Symposium, we had some concurrent sessions in a smaller room adjacent to the Exhibit Hall called the Disruptive Technology, or “DISTEC Theater.”
Speakers in these short, intimate sessions included:
- COL Csaba Szarka, Head of RD and Innovation Branch – Hungarian MoD
- Tarek Abdelzaher, Professor of Computer Science – University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
- Sam Stowers, Former Special Operations Officer at a Technical SOF Unit; Now Head of Product Development at Black Cape, Inc. – Black Cape
- Roger Seaton, Vice President, Government Programs – Kymeta Corp.
- Jim Emmert, Capability Development – Applications & Requirements – JFD / JFD North America
- Primož Peterca, CEO – Carbotech
- Michael Grochol, CEO – Iron EagleX, Inc.
- Michael Campbell, President and General Manager – Privoro Government Solutions
- Rich Hart, Principal Professional, Customer Engagement/Business Solutions – Samsung Global B2G
- Nick Porter, Regional Sales Manager – Epiq Solutions
- Alex Martin, CEO – Clearspeed
- Tristam Constant, Director – Anduril Industries
- Alex Reche Martinez, VP ML & AI Research – MARSS
- Stefano Crosta, VP Software Engineering – MARSS
- Shaun Barry, Business Development Manager – Spectra Group (UK) Ltd
- Dave O’Brien, Technical Lead – Troposcatter – Spectra Group (UK) Ltd
Plus, a huge thank you to the two chairs for each day: Abe USHER, Co-CEO – Black Cape, and Jared N. Shepard, President & Chief Executive Officer – Hypori.
Topics ranged from countering autonomous vehicles to AI in risk assessment to tactical diving. “There was some really cool stuff in there,” said one attendee.
This was our first time having this add-on, so we certainly have some improvements for next year, including a different application process, better audio, and more signage leading to the room.
And while many of the sessions had limited attendance due to the aforementioned issues, we’ve heard that many of the RIGHT people were in each session. For example, it sounds like one of the smallest sessions may have resulted in some of the biggest sales for the speaker… so we’ll call that a big WIN!
Stay tuned for information about our next rendition of the DISTEC Theater in Brno!
Dave had his SERIOUS Face On.
Lunch was another delicious affair, with local food and a final chance to peruse the Exhibit Hall.
We were especially excited that the Hungarian MOD stuck around to visit many of the booths and try out their capabilities–a big win for our exhibitors and the Hungarians.
As one exhibitor said: “I’m THRILLED. My big goal for this event was to meet the SOF Commanders for Hungary, Ukraine, and the Czech Republic… and I talked to all three!”
We heard many other success stories from the expo that were fantastic to hear, so the doors closed on that portion of the event on a very positive note.
With the exhibit hall closed and DISTEC sessions complete, in the afternoon we had just two more sessions after lunch to wrap up the Symposium.
The first was a keynote from our host Nation, Lieutenant General Romulusz RUSZIN-SZENDI, the Commander for Hungarian Defence Forces, aka the CHOD. He shared his points of view on the military in Hungary, its current and future mission sets, and the role of Special Operations Forces.
Our final panel was focused on “Building the Bridge Between SOF, Academia and Industry.” Now, every event seems to have that *one* panel that has lots of problems…speakers unable to attend, having flight problems, needing to leave early, etc. This was that panel!
While we had a lot of last minute drop outs, our community stepped up and we had some great last minute drop INS.
- Moderator: Mr. Dave Hubler, Director of Government Relations – Global SOF Foundation
- Colonel Csaba SZARKA, Head of Department, Research and Development and Innovation Supervision Department – Department of Defense Innovation and Skill Development, Ministry of National Defense
- Mr. Kevin Beal – Norwich University
That’s right, with just a couple days notice, one of our newest employees, CSM (Ret) Dave Hubler, got the shoulder tap to speak on the main stage…and he did awesome!
Of course, our team relentlessly gave him the “new guy” treatment, taking photos and texting about his “serious face.” We only do it out of love for our team, of course, and it was a really active panel to end the day on.
We wrapped up the day with some quick closing remarks from GSOF President and CEO, Stu Bradin, who thanked some of the key people who made this event possible, including “Steve” from HUNSOF, the HUNSOF Commander, and our two Mistresses of Ceremonies, Mary-Allison “MA” Yourchisin from SOFtact Solutions and our own Meaghan Keeler-Pettigew, GSOF COO!
It was a really great week to connect with our community, and one we will never forget!!!
….but, if you do worry about forgetting it, we have TONS of photos:
And we hope to see you all at our next big event, Modern Warfare Week in Ft. Bragg, NC.
Plus, we’re already booking exhibits and gearing up for our next European event in Brno, Czech Republic, from 24 – 26 OCT in 2023.
Thank you for joining us, and we’ll see you again soon!
GSOF Europe in Budapest [Day 2]
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