SOFINS 2023: Special Forces Exhibition and Conferences will start next week in Bordeaux France.

In 2023, SOFINS will celebrate its 10th anniversary.The Cercle de l'Arbalète is a fruit of SOFINS 2013. It brings together 120 selected companies, mainly French. SOFINS is one of its events. The edition 2023 of SOFINS will take place in Bordeau, France from 28 to 30 March 2023. The Army Recognition editorial team will be at SOFINS 2023 to cover the vent with News and Video reports. 
Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link

SOFINS Special Operations Forces Innovation Network Seminar is an exhibition that showcases the latest equipment, technologies, and innovations in the field of special operations forces. (Picture source: SOFINS)

SOFINS is an abbreviation for the Special Operations Forces Innovation Network Seminar. It is a unique event organized in France, which brings together various stakeholders from the defense and security sector, including the special operations forces (SOF), industry partners, researchers, and innovators. The main objective of the event is to facilitate collaboration and exchange of ideas among these stakeholders, showcase the latest technological innovations, and explore potential solutions to the challenges faced by the SOF.

Sofins takes place at the Camp de Souge, a military camp located near Bordeaux in France. The event typically includes conferences, workshops, live demonstrations, and an exhibition of new technologies and equipment designed for the special operations forces. Participants have the opportunity to interact with key players in the defense and security sector and learn about the latest developments in the field.

During the preparation of SOFINS 2023, the Cercle de l'Arbalète works very closely with the COS (Commandement des Opérations spéciales, Special Operations Command). It started the preparation a year ago and selected 286 exhibitors, but not selected between 50 and 60 other ones. Foreign exhibitors are selected when offering some products or technologies that are not available in France, namely individual weapons.

In 2023, the theme is "special operations in a contested environment". In this context, "the adversary is as strong as we are in terms of material and intelligence resources". The GCOS itself will communicate very little in this edition.

Program

- Sunday 26, in the forest of Souge: memorial ceremony for the 250 WW2 shootings
- Monday 27 evening, for the members of the circle with a ceremony for the dead soldiers in operations, with the opening cocktail to welcome the foreigners.
- Tuesday 28: opening conference at 9.30 am with Benoît de Saint-Sernin. The GCOs will present the International Academy for the Fight against Terrorism in Abidjan (AILCT, Académie Internationale de Lutte Contre le Terrorisme). The concept is of COS origin in the year 2019. Jean-Yves le Drian, former Minister of Defense, will be present. At the end of the day, the nocturne is a moment where everyone dines together without any hierarchical barrier.
- Wednesday 29: cycle of conferences. In the evening, paying gala dinner in Bordeaux with the concept of showing off to foreigners.
- Thursday 30: the Minister of the Armed Forces will come in the morning with a demonstration of the Special Forces with a huge premiere with a foreign component of the Special Forces who will participate in the demo.

New features in 2023

AirDrop Zone with an aircraft for the Safran Grounding System (SMT) 460. 6 rotations:
- 1st rotation: Special Forces.
- 2nd rotation: STAT (Technical Section of the Land Force)
- 3rd rotation: tandem jump

Pieces of equipment that will be tested: night vision, drones, vehicles, shooting on moving targets.

High Tech at SOFINS
- SOFLAB. This year, 17 start-ups have been selected by SOFLAB
- SOFTECH SI. 19 companies not big enough to be SMEs and not small enough to be
start-ups.
- SOFTECH movie. An animated film based on a scenario co-written with the COS

The delegations

In 2023, 68 countries have been invited. 50 delegations from less than 40 to 45 countries responded positively.