Heat Resistant Visual Landing Aid (VLA) Lighting Fixtures for Ship Flight Decks and Expeditionary Air Field (EAF) Matting

Visual Landing Aids on air capable ships and aircraft carrier flight decks are required for night and/or low visibility aircraft operations for general lighting, navigation, flight deck, and special purposes. Future aircraft are expected to have hotter exhaust that could threaten the integrity of these lighting fixtures. During Phase 1 and Phase 2, a new form fit functional converter assembly, with embedded LEDs and improved maintenance features, was designed and tested as a drop-in-replacement for the legacy in-deck converter assembly in Tramline and Centerline Light Fixtures. Analysis showed LED’s junction temperatures were below the requirement defined by MIL-STD-16377 in ambient operations and below the LED’s failure point when exposed to aircraft exhaust. Development work was completed, prototypes were built, and environmental and EMI tests demonstrated and verified performance under stressful conditions. However, issues were found that require another design iteration to fix. Furthermore, new Navy performance and electrical interface requirements must be met. In Phase II.5 breadboard units will be made to validate all issues have been corrected. The design will be finalized, and qualification units assembled. Environmental and EMI tests will be done to validate performance. Manufacturing costs are expected to be lower than the legacy unit.