Press Release

Issued by GPMS International.

April 13, 2023

Black Widow Helicopters LLC of Sheridan, Wyoming has announced today an order for 12 shipsets of GPMS International's Foresight MX, the industry's most advanced health and usage monitoring system (HUMS). In addition, every UH-60 Black Hawk aircraft delivered through Black Widow's leading digital modernisation programme will be standard equipped with Foresight MX. With the agreement, Black Widow Helicopters also becomes a GPMS certified installer, providing a premier installation option for the growing number of Black Hawk operators around the world.

“We selected Foresight MX to provide operators the best HUMS experience possible to monitor their Black Hawks” said Alex Freidin, vice president of commercial and flight operations of Black Widow Helicopters LLC. “Foresight reduces operating costs by monitoring aircraft and engine vibrations and identifies trending components with an easy-to-understand user interface. With Foresight's advanced analytics and predictive remaining useful life capability for trending components, operators are able to mitigate unscheduled and AOG events, resulting in lower operating costs and increased aircraft availability.”

According to Todd Powers, vice president of sales for GPMS, Foresight MX goes beyond HUMS. “In addition to the predictive HUMS, Black Widow UH-60 clients benefit from Foresight's touchless cellular data uploads, flight data monitoring (FDM), exceedance monitoring, automated power assurance checks and “one move” rotor track and balance capability. At just over 17 lbs. installed, operators benefit from our award-winning, lightweight, integrated and futureproof technology versus typical federated and heavy legacy systems from multiple solutions and vendors. We're proud and honoured to be on Black Widow Helicopters UH-60A and soon on its UH-60L Black Hawks.

Freidin continues, “HUMS is a key part of the United States Forest Service roadmap, and it's included in its MATOC requirement for a “modern helicopter”. We're focused on delivering state-of-the-art Black Hawks to our clients with full-width, touch-screen glass cockpits for a superior pilot experience, and with Foresight MX HUMS as standard equipment, an exceptional experience for the maintenance and operations teams. It gives our clients the competitive advantage in an ever increasing UH-60 Black Hawk market and more importantly, aside from the commercial and economic benefit, a massive safety enhancement.”