The abbreviation ECWCS literally means "Extended Cold Weather Clothing System" and it is a protective suit system that was developed in the 80s of the last century in the USA by the organization "U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center" (NSRDEC) - also pronounced as "U.S. Army Natick Soldier Systems Center" (NSSC) or simply "Natick Labs".
The current logo of the organization "United States Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center", which is an integral part of the functioning of the local U.S. Army.
Why was the ECWCS system created?
The state-of-the-art Gen III ECWCS is designed to offer and maintain adequate thermal protection in a variety of environments – specifically, the Gen III ECWCS allows a temperature range of -60°F to +40°F, i.e. -51°C to +4°C.
What is included in ECWCS?
In the first generation, we can find a total of twenty-two pieces of different types of winter clothing (from glove liners, through caps, to Type I boots for winter or II boots for extreme winter). The entire system can be further insulated (as Layer I): with polypropylene underwear. Layer 2, which is cotton/nylon pants + polyester shirt/bib, plus a liner/pad. As Layer 3, there is also a set of outer Gore-Tex® accessories-extra tops. Arguably the most popular in the civilian sphere, quite logically, the hooded sports jacket is famous for its unmistakable 'cobra profile', meaning it fits exactly over a standard military helmet.
The second generation (2G ECWCS) of course adds even more things. These are specifically two things made of Polartec material: the Polartec Classic 300 shirt and the Polartec Classic 200 overall. Under the circumstances that they are used in combination with other layers from the ECWCS system, this variation protects from +40°F to -40°F, i.e. +4°C to -40°C. The sports jacket with a hood has also undergone changes here – instead of the classic, it is a model with ventilation holes. This, of course, completely eliminated any condensation ailments while simultaneously wearing "water-resistant + breathable" outer layers.
The GEN III Extended Climate Warfighter Clothing System is definitely a step in the right direction, according to the latest US Army surveys and thus also the demands of modern soldiers.
As for the third generation (3G ECWCS) or "GEN III Extended Climate Warfighter Clothing System", it is again a very radical reworking of the status. Now there are seven additional protective layers, including three from Polartec (two layers of Polartec Power Dry and a single layer of Polartec Thermal Pro High Loft). The remaining twelve layers include everything from a lightweight tank top and long pants, to a soft winter jacket and matching pants, to extreme cold stuff + the ever popular hooded sports jacket. The third-generation system has been in use since August 2007 in Afghanistan. It must also be noted in this matter that the more modern "softshell" jacket is much more breathable than the original outer layers of the "water-resistant + breathable" type.