Manchester Police was the first police force in the UK to purchase the redesigned COREL and freestanding battery charger. The portable landing lights were needed to illuminate a suitable approach path and emergency landing area near to the police force’s permanent landing pad.Since the purchase by Manchester Police, further sets of CORELs have been supplied for helipad use to the Greater Metropolitan Police Force in London, UK and Thames Valley Police in Oxfordshire, UK.

Metalite has undertaken many MOSKIT demonstrations worldwide for military end users who have a requirement for portable airfield lighting. A MOSKIT, and additional ORELS, can be sent to a country and with the support of a Metalite employee the system can be deployed to relevant military personnel such as Air Traffic Controllers, Airfield Operations personnel, Pilots and Engineers. The potential customer can undertake flight trials with fixed or rotary wing aircraft.

Such trials have been undertaken in over 12 countries and have lead to 10 military users placing orders for MOSKITs and SALKITs.

After witnessing the potential of MOSKIT first hand during Operation Desert Storm in 1991, the US Marine Corps tested the system in 1992 before carrying out further testing under the Foreign Comparative Testing programme.

The first production order was placed on Metalite in 1997 and since then sufficient numbers of MOSKITs and SALKITs have been supplied to support 14 MOSLS – minimum operating strip lighting systems. A MOSLS system is comprised of 2 MOSKIT trailers and 3 SALKIT trailers and is air transportable in one C-130 aircraft. The principal of MOSLS is to support both fixed and rotary wing operations at expeditionary airfields. A single MOSLS system can be used to allow dual approach of a single runway as well as marking taxiways and parking areas.

US Marine Corps MOSLS systems were first deployed operationally in 2001 during Operation Enduring Freedom. Since then they have been used extensively during Operation Iraqi Freedom in the support of forward and rear expeditionary airfields.

During 2002/3 the US Air Force purchased a number of systems from Metalite to support Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom.

Products supplied included MOSKITs, SALKITs, CALKIT™ and CORELs. These are being used to mark runways and taxiways at airfields where no permanent lighting is installed and also as emergency back up to unreliable permanent airfield lighting systems.

Lighting meets NATO STANAG specifications as well as ICAO, FAA and CAA standards ensuring safe airfield operations. They can be controlled remotely from the ATC tower or from the airfield ensuring instant black out capability in emergency situations.

The UK Royal Air Force Tactical Communications Wing (TCW) has used MOSKIT during the evacuation of UK, EU and other Nationals during the Sierra Leone crisis in 2001, when the UK military went to the aid of the United Nations. The MOSKIT was used at Freetown Airport to support the use of RAF Chinook (CH-47) and Hercules (C-130) aircraft when foreign nationals were evacuated to Senegal.

The Belgian Air Force 15th Wing based in Brussels have used one of their MOSKITs for the evacuation of Belgium, EU and other nationals from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) formerly Zaire in 1997. Since then their MOSKIT has been used on a regular basis for missions and operations within and around the DRC and other parts of Africa for humanitarian missions.

A single MOSKIT can support a 1500mtr (5,000ft) runway for use by fixed and rotary wing aircraft. It contains sufficient runway edge lights, PAPIs and approach lights to support both VFR and NVG flight operations. Two trailer mounted generators remove the need for a local mains power supply. All equipment can be operated by radio control from the ATC tower or from a tactical air traffic controller on the airfield itself. It can be deployed in less than 20 minutes by three personnel and can be redeployed in a shorter time once the lighting is no longer required. MOSKIT is C-130 transportable and can be towed behind standard utility vehicles such as a Land Rover, HUMVVE and normal commercial utility vehicles.

Metalite has undertaken many MOSKIT demonstrations worldwide for military end users who have a requirement for portable airfield lighting. A MOSKIT, and additional ORELS, can be sent to a country and with the support of a Metalite employee the system can be deployed to relevant military personnel such as Air Traffic Controllers, Airfield Operations personnel, Pilots and Engineers. The potential customer can undertake flight trials with fixed or rotary wing aircraft.

Such trials have been undertaken in over 12 countries and have lead to 10 military users placing orders for MOSKITs and SALKITs.

The single main runway at Campbeltown Airport Scotland is often seriously affected by cross winds making landing hazardous. CALKIT™ is deployed by the emergency services to light a short, unlicensed landing strip for Air Ambulance purposes. The system is also deployed at night in adverse weather conditions to train new pilots for short runway landings in bad weather.

Metalite has supplied CALKIT™ systems to oil and gas exploration and extraction companies around the world including Shell, BP, LASMO, PDO, Arco, Elf and Plus Petrol. The CALKIT™ portable runway lighting system is a reliable, low cost option for delineating airfields in remote areas where local mains power is not available. It enables unlit airstrips to be used safely during the hours of darkness allowing extended periods of logistical support or urgent medical evacuations.CALKIT™ has been used during some of the world’s largest on shore oil and gas projects including Insalah, Algeria and Babo, Indonesia.

Metalite has recently supplied a significant number of CALKIT™ portable runway lighting systems and portable PAPI systems to various arms of the United Nations – including ten for the World Food Programme. A further five of the systems were purchased by The United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC). Due to the size of the DRC most logistical support is carried out by air and MONUC operates 5 UN airfields throughout the country. Remote airfields, like Bunia near the border with Uganda, have no permanent runway lighting systems and safe airfield operations were confined to the hours of daylight before the introduction of the CALKIT™s and portable PAPIs.Two CALKIT™ runway lighting systems and portable PAPI systems have been purchased for emergency deployment from the UN Logistical Air Base in Brindisi, Italy.The 66 COREL portable runway lights contained within the CALKIT™ trailer form a 2800m runway in Visual Flight Rule conditions or a 1680m runway in Instrument Flight Rule conditions.

Metalite’s portable PAPIs used to land a C-130 in the Antarctic