Aiming at the development and problems of high-strength energetic structural materials （ESMs）， the characteristics， static mechanical behaviors and dynamic mechanical behaviors of high-entropy alloys （HEAs） were summarized and analyzed. The assumptions， potential and challenges of HEAs as high-strength ESMs were proposed and verified from the perspective of both theoretical and experimental aspects. It was found that HEAs had the basic features of “free composition design”， “simple crystal structure with strong lattice distortion” and “high strength and hardness”. At the same time， both static and dynamic mechanical behaviors of HEAs could be adjusted in a wide range by means of process adjustment and composition design. All the above features indicated that HEAs had the potential advantages to be used as high-strength ESMs in terms of workability， high strength， and rapid oxidation to release energy. Existing experimental results also confirmed the application potential of HEAs ESMs. Finally， the challenges faced by the research of high-entropy alloy ESMs and the priorities of future research， such as high-throughput experiments and simulations， researches on dynamic mechanical behaviors and preparation for large-scale samples， were raised based on the intrinsic features of HEAs and previous experimental results.