Two SOCOM participants sit at a table full of hardware components.

USSOCOM ignite truly joint, expanding opportunities

The SOCOM Ignite Program is an innovation-focused initiative aimed at addressing current and future challenges facing the warfighter, but it also serves as an opportunity to both further the education and ingenuity of future military leaders.
November 20, 2025
USSOCOM

U.S. Special Operations Command’s Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (U.S. SOCOM AT&L), alongside MIT Lincoln Laboratory, launched the 2026 SOCOM Ignite Program at MIT's campus in late September, embarking on a yearlong journey for more than 100 cadets and faculty from over 20 colleges, universities and service academies.

The SOCOM Ignite Program is an innovation-focused initiative aimed at addressing current and future challenges facing the warfighter, but it also serves as an opportunity to both further the education and ingenuity of future military leaders. The selected teams will have the opportunity to establish relationships with military and technical mentors, culminating in a presentation of their work at Special Operations Forces Week 2026 in Tampa, Florida.

Beginning in 2020 with an initial group of eight ROTC cadets, the SOCOM Ignite program now hosts more than 100 cadets from universities and service academies across the country. This year, SOCOM Ignite received 48 unique challenges, each submitted from various SOF units. This year was the first year the program received challenges from every component of U.S. SOCOM.

"Having this be truly joint is one of the key areas that marks this as a big accomplishment," said Raoul Ouedraogo, program lead for SOCOM Ignite [at Lincoln Laboratory]. "It's that ability to be able to have all of those different service components work together."