Increased demand for cryocoolers for aerospace and terrestrial applications has served as an incentive over the past decade to develop units with specific performance parameters. Since many of these units also require a high degree of reliability, considerable effort has been directed toward meeting this goal. The excellent progress that has been made is summarized, and there is every indication that the use of cryocoolers will expand greatly during the next decade, with a rapid transition from present aerospace/military applications to highly civilian uses in such areas as medicine, electronic transmission, environmental control, energy storage, and transportation.