The Extended Climate Warfighter Clothing System, or Gen III ECWCS, is protective clothing created in the 1980s as an exclusively cold weather system by the United States Army, but has been radically redesigned to cover a broad range of combat climates. The first generation ECWCS consisted of parka and trousers plus 20 other individual clothing, handwear, headwear and footwear items which are used in various combinations to meet the cold weather environmental requirements of the US military (and others). Now, the third generation, or Gen III ECWCS, has been developed to maintain adequate environmental protection in temperatures ranging between +40 and −60 Fahrenheit (+4° and -51° Celsius).
The Gen III ECWCS consists of seven levels of protection to provide defense from environmental conditions:
- Level I: Sandy-colored Light-Weight polypropylene Polartec Power Dry Silkweight Undershirt & Drawers
- Level II: Sandy polyester Polartec Power Dry grid fleece Mid-Weight Shirt & Drawers
- Level III: Black Polartec Thermal ProŽ polyester High-Loft Fleece Jacket
- Level IV: Gore-Tex Wind Jacket
- Level V: Water-repellent stretchable nylon soft shell Cold Weather Jacket & Trousers
- Level VI: Extreme Wet/Cold Weather Gore-Tex Jacket & Trousers
- Level VII: Extreme Cold Weather soft shell with PrimaLoft Sport insulation Parka & Trousers
Total weight: 12.8 lbs