The Army is creating a new research institute solely focused on small-unit performance.

The Soldier Squad Performance Research Institute to be built at the Natick Soldier Systems Center, Mass., will be known as S2PRINT, and is part of a larger Army effort focused on the tools and training required to improve the fighting power of small units. It is expected to open in 2023.

The institute will focus on optimizing performance by looking at nutrition, physical fitness, cognitive and social skills, and physiological capabilities. There will also be a study of how teams and team leaders interact.

These are not new areas of study for the Army, which has highlighted soldier performance and lethality as one of its top capability priorities. Work is being done by the Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center (NSRDEC) and the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine (USARIEM).

In an announcement, the Army said, “The institute will empower NSRDEC’s and USARIEM’s world-class scientists and engineers with a controlled, cutting-edge, and mission-relevant environment in which to perform applied studies to uncover ways to optimize Soldier and squad performance and enhance combat readiness.”