Two leading defence companies have combined to fit dual mode visible/IR position and brake lights to a Land Rover Defender vehicle. LED lighting specialists Oxley Developments have designed and manufactured the lights for Hobson Industries who have a long history of Land Rover re-engineering experience.

The lighting set – which comprises two front position lights, two rear position lights, two rear brake lights and a control unit – offers a dual mode LED alternative to traditional incandescent bulbs. Incorporating an infra red covert lighting mode means the lights can be used whilst wearing night vision goggles (NVGs). This provides a significant advantage during night-time operations and can potentially increase driving speeds.

The benefits of LED technology are well known and with a mean time between failure (MTBF) rate in excess of 50,000h these lights represent a ‘fit and forget’ solution for the life of the vehicle, with all of the associated benefits of lower through-life costs. Reduced power consumption when compared with incandescent lights also adds additional value.

The bulb replacements are compatible with existing lenses on the vehicle and can be fitted in the field in less than 30min. The 5W bulb replacements, developed by Oxley, can be used on all of the above lights and can potentially be implemented across the Land Rover fleet. They are also compatible with other army vehicles that use the same fittings, thereby providing a generic IR lighting solution that can be installed on a range of similar military vehicles.

Oxley is exhibiting at DVD this year and a set of working lights will be displayed on their stand. They can be found in the Concept Centre at C2-27.

A Land Rover Defender vehicle, fitted with a suite of dual mode lights, will also be displayed on the Hobson Industries stand at DVD. This can be found on the Steering Pad at SP5.

DVD takes place at Millbrook 24-25 June.