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Recognised as a world leading night vision lighting specialist, Oxley is at the forefront in the design and supply of external night vision lighting systems.

Night Vision has enhanced the operational capability of many aircraft. Multi-ship night vision operations demand specifically configured external aircraft lighting systems; covert IR formation lights for hostile theatres and Oxley NVG Friendlyª visible navigation lights for training missions in civil airspace.

Download PDF information sheet on covert formation lights

Oxley has pioneered the design and supply of covert formation lights. Oxley components are in service on many aircraft types world-wide, including helicopters and fast jets. The lights are based on Near Infra-Red diodes, which provide light which is only visible to operators equipped with Night Vision Goggles (NVG). They are invisible to the naked eye - hence Covert.

The IR diode assemblies are small and are designed to mount directly onto the fuselage or appropriate panel. Mounting pods are available for certain aircraft, such as Puma, Super Puma and EH-101.

Each diode projects a cone of IR energy. For operational reasons, the IR energy generally projects in an upward and rearward direction rather than downwards or forwards, and is designed not to illuminate the aircraft panels.

Bright or Dim emission levels are switch selectable in the cockpit to provide tactical and close formation modes.

Oxley offers a flasher unit to provide the option of Flash and Steady selection. Flashing the entire covert formation light suite in synchronism is proven to be better than having a point source "covert strobe". Aircraft aspect and manoeuvre is much clearer due to the 3 dimensional pattern.

One of the most significant hazards identified in the ever increasing peacetime and training deployment of Night Vision Goggles and NVG compatible cockpits is the use of standard visible external aircraft lights. In particular, if the visible lighting, required by regulatory bodies such as the FAA and JAA for aircraft identification, is unmodified, the reduction in goggle gain and the associated goggle blooming created by the lights can lead to a loss of spatial awareness when operating in close formation. Some operators are simply switching off all external lights when flying multi-ship NVG training missions; clearly a safety hazard for other military and civil aircraft. The solution is to make the navigation lights NVG Friendly. This can be achieved using various technologies, and Oxley offers two as follows:

The latest technology for this application is Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs). Recent LED developments have overcome previous limitations in brightness and operating temperature. Oxley EZELED light units are fully compliant with the FAR/JAR legal requirements. The increase in reliability over filament bulbs is enormous - 10,000 times.

The covert and NVG Friendly capability can be installed on the aircraft in one dual mode package. F-16 and Jaguar are two examples of dual mode covert IR and NVG Friendly optical filter modification in one aircraft package. Dual mode, Covert and NVG Friendly EZELED visible lighting is also readily available in a dual mode installation. The combined EZELED LED and IR diode product is extremely reliable and easy to install; minimal aircraft wiring changes are required.

F18 tail lights (left) show the integrated covert IR components of the formation lights.

Employing the latest LED technology, the Rotox anticollision light is a high intensity red LED light. It is fully compliant with civil aviation requirements for external lighting, including colour and brightness.

Representing a major technology advance, this product incorporates LEDs in an innovative electronics design to achieve many advantages for helicopter operators; particularly weight, reliability, EMC and simplicity of installation. The single unit design does not require any additional power converter; it operates directly from the aircraft 28 volt supply.

The Oxley capability includes supply of specifically designed cockpit control units to meet the particular requirements of each aircraft operator. Cockpit control of light output pattern, flash pattern, brightness and mode can all be cockpit-selected by the aircrew.