I'm shocked they use bright white lights in flight like that. I would expect the front facing lights to do zero for the pilots (the light has to reflect off something to be of any benefit to the pilot), but it could be blinding for any pilot nearby. Similarly I'd expect that a bright white light out the tail of the lead aircraft would blind the pilot of an approaching plane. Also, planes would be blacked out in wartime, so I would expect them to train using nightvision for that reason as well.
It's the same reason you shouldn't use "docking" lights on a boat at night until you are actually docking. Use while boating doesn't help the driver see anything and blinds any other boater in the area.
