In the early days of the Soldier Design Competition, challenges were requested of and provided by ISN's Army and USMC colleagues.

For the past several years, however, challenges have been tied directly to Army S&T needs. Most recently, challenges have been tied to the six Army Modernizations Priorities, announced in 2017 by GEN Mark Milley, Army Chief of Staff, and Hon. Ryan McCarthy, then the Acting Secretary of the Army.

These Modernization Priorities have each been aligned to a Cross-Functional Team charged with identifying S&T capabilities to help the Army implement these priorities within the newly established U.S. Army Futures Command.

As always, there is also an open seventh challenge: in consulation with the SDC Coordinator, Competition participants can devise their own challenge submissions.