A system adapted for installation on an aircraft for calculating position values and/or range data of an object(s) external to the aircraft, the system comprising: a mode selector configured to determine an illumination field of view, within which structured light (32; 33) is projected, based on ground operation modes of the aircraft; a projector adapted to be mounted at a projector location on the aircraft and configured to project the structured light (32; 33) only within the illumination field of view determined by the mode selector, thereby illuminating the object(s) external to the aircraft that are within the illumination field of view; a camera adapted to be mounted at a camera location on the aircraft and configured to receive a portion of the structured light (32; 33) reflected by the object(s) within the illumination field of view, and further configured to focus the received portion of the structured light (32; 33) onto a focal plane array comprising a plurality of light-sensitive pixels, thereby forming an image of the object(s) within the illumination field of view, the image comprising pixel data generated by the plurality of light-sensitive pixels; and an image processor configured to identify pixel coordinates corresponding to a subset of the plurality of light-sensitive pixels upon which the received portion of the structured light (32; 33) reflected by the object(s) within the illumination field of view is focused, the image processor further configured to use triangulation, based on the projector location, the camera location, and the identified pixel coordinates, to calculate the position values and/or range data of the object(s) within the illumination field. a mode selector configured to determine an illumination field of view, within which structured light (32; 33) is projected, based on ground operation modes of the aircraft; a projector adapted to be mounted at a projector location on the aircraft and configured to project the structured light (32; 33) only within the illumination field of view determined by the mode selector, thereby illuminating the object(s) external to the aircraft that are within the illumination field of view; a camera adapted to be mounted at a camera location on the aircraft and configured to receive a portion of the structured light (32; 33) reflected by the object(s) within the illumination field of view, and further configured to focus the received portion of the structured light (32; 33) onto a focal plane array comprising a plurality of light-sensitive pixels, thereby forming an image of the object(s) within the illumination field of view, the image comprising pixel data generated by the plurality of light-sensitive pixels; and an image processor configured to identify pixel coordinates corresponding to a subset of the plurality of light-sensitive pixels upon which the received portion of the structured light (32; 33) reflected by the object(s) within the illumination field of view is focused, the image processor further configured to use triangulation, based on the projector location, the camera location, and the identified pixel coordinates, to calculate the position values and/or range data of the object(s) within the illumination field. <EOS>