A system for calculating position values and/or range data of object(s) in a scene external to an aircraft, the system comprising: a light projector mountable at a projector location on the aircraft and configured to project a collimated beam of light in a controllable direction onto the scene external to the aircraft; a camera comprising a focal plane array, wherein the focal plane array comprises a plurality of light-sensitive pixels, the camera being mountable at a camera location on the aircraft and configured to receive a portion of the collimated beam reflected by the scene, and further configured to focus the received portion onto the focal plane array, thereby forming an image of the scene, 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 collimated beam reflected by the scene 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 object(s) in the scene by which the collimated beam of light is reflected, the image processor is further configured to identify a reflectivity of the reflecting object(s) based on a ratio of intensities of the emitted collimated beam and the received portion reflected by the object; wherein the light projector is further configured to control an intensity of the projected collimated beam of light, based on reflectivity of the object(s) toward which the projected collimated beam of light is controllably directed. a light projector mountable at a projector location on the aircraft and configured to project a collimated beam of light in a controllable direction onto the scene external to the aircraft; a camera comprising a focal plane array, wherein the focal plane array comprises a plurality of light-sensitive pixels, the camera being mountable at a camera location on the aircraft and configured to receive a portion of the collimated beam reflected by the scene, and further configured to focus the received portion onto the focal plane array, thereby forming an image of the scene, 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 collimated beam reflected by the scene 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 object(s) in the scene by which the collimated beam of light is reflected, the image processor is further configured to identify a reflectivity of the reflecting object(s) based on a ratio of intensities of the emitted collimated beam and the received portion reflected by the object; wherein the light projector is further configured to control an intensity of the projected collimated beam of light, based on reflectivity of the object(s) toward which the projected collimated beam of light is controllably directed. <EOS>