A Brief History of our Naval Activities

Consolite Technology was formed in 1980 to design and manufacture specialised military lighting products.

A particular expertise was in converting lighting of all types to compliance with night vision goggles (NVGs), i.e. modifying lighting so pilots can fly with NVGs and keep the lights on without interference to NVG operation. Initially this was all in aircraft cockpits, but around 2003 we modified two of the UK Royal Navy aircraft carriers. This involved adding filters to all the lights on and around the flight deck that could be visible to approaching aircrew, permitting NVG use at every stage of the mission.

The result was so successful that we were invited by UK MOD to write a new Defence Standard for NVG warship lighting (Def Stan 02-587 Part 3). This was used to specify the lighting on the new Queen Elizabeth carrier programme, covering all types of lighting including navigation lights, and is now in common use with other navies around the world.

Around 2014 we developed a range of dual mode LED based lights for warships. These were switchable between normal bright white light and a lower level NVG compatible output. We supplied all the upper deck lights for the UK Tide Class fleet tanker programme.

We also developed a range of LED navigation lights with the unique capability of NVG compliance whilst retaining full COLREG compliance.

We have continued to innovate and we extended our product range to all types of lighting, both NVG and non-NVG. We successfully bid for the UK Type 31 frigate lighting system and we provide every light on the ship apart from visual landing aids. All are LED based and fulfill all required functions on the ship. Our luminaires are typically designed to ensure backward compatibility with industry standards for both light output and mounting configurations.

So in summary:

  • We upgrade legacy lighting by filtering for NVG compliance, ranging from individual lights through to whole ships.
  • We upgrade ships by replacing legacy lights with new LED lighting, with benefits of higher reliability and lower power consumption, as well as NVG compliance.
  • We supply LED lights for new build programmes, offering the complete range of lights required – internal and external, single or dual mode with NVG or dark adaptation options, explosion proof variants, and navigation lights, all fully qualified by testing to international standards for shock, vibration, climate, EMC etc.
  • Our lights are now fitted on many ships all around the world, both as upgrades and on major new build programmes, with proven capability and reliability.