Methods and systems are provided for promoting collision threat awareness for a mobile platform. The system comprises a searchlight to emit a beam of light and means for articulating the searchlight, a sensor system to sense a location, elevation, and orientation of the mobile platform and/or locations and elevations of obstacles including terrain and manmade objects, a source of data including the locations and elevations of the obstacles, and a controller configured to, by a processor: identify a first obstacle that poses a collision threat to the mobile platform based on the location, elevation, and/or orientation of the mobile platform and the location and elevation of the first obstacle, and operate the searchlight assembly to: automatically direct the beam of light toward the first obstacle, and/or automatically direct the beam of light toward an escape route that allows the mobile platform to avoid collision with the first obstacle.