Sharing some of my DDThe interesting thing here is we haven't heard anything yet about the face gear project. The Northstar web site hasn't been updated in a while and the "Outlook for 2009" section contains this: (all underlines are mine for empahsis)
Patented Face Gear manufacturing process
In addition, our patented Face Gear manufacturingtechnology positions Northstar well to be the sole source supplier forthe transmission that will power the Block III upgrade of the ApacheAH-64 attack helicopter. This aircraft is scheduled to fly for thefirst time in late 2009 and current plans call for more than 600 Apachehelicopters to be upgraded for the U.S. Army over a 15 to 20 yearperiod. Foreign aircraft sales and spares could potentially doubleorders for Face Gear transmissions.
This led my DD path to the Boeing web site that has a press release that says this first flight occured on 23 Nov 09: (quote below from https://boeing.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=977)
The press release indicates that it did use a face gear that increased power by 20%... that's gotta be good:
Block III technologies being tested include the composite main rotorblade, composite horizontal stabilator, and -701D engines, whichinclude an enhanced digital electronic control unit. The aircraft alsofeatures a split-torque face gear transmission that increases powerthroughput by more than 20 percent within the same physical operatingspace as the legacy transmission.
This, coupled with the new credit facility that might be needed to gear up and start building say 600 Apache transmissions, smells to me like there's more news on the way. I wonder what a tranny job is worth for an Apache?
GLTA