Armed with Science , a U.S. Defense Department science blog, reports that “helicopter pilots have for years kept cool by plugging into aircraft-mounted microclimate cooling systems, but their crews have used them less frequently to avoid becoming entangled in the tethers that connected them to the systems.”  

“That’s why researchers at the Natick Soldier Systems Center have been testing the Light-Weight Environmental Control System, or LWECS, a body-worn microclimate cooling system that allows crew members to move around inside the aircraft without tripping on tethers, and to exit the aircraft while still being cooled.”  

“’Basically, it’s a small refrigeration device,’ said Brad Laprise, a mechanical engineer with the Warfighter Directorate, Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center, or NSRDEC.”