MIAEZ-60

MIAEZ-60
Role	Transport and utility helicopter
National origin	Zacapican
Manufacturer	Cuauhquetztia
Designer	NTT 75
First flight	1 September 1960
Introduction	1962
Status	In service
Primary users	Zacapine Navy Zacapine Army Itayana
Produced	1962–present
Number built	Over 500 as of 2023

The Moceloquichme Ilhuica Atl Ehecatica Zazacatepoztototl Octacatl-60 (Nahuatl: 𐐣𐐬𐑅𐐯𐑊𐐬𐐿𐐶𐐨𐐽𐑋𐐯 𐐀𐑊𐐸𐐶𐐨𐐿𐐰 𐐈𐐻𐑊 𐐇𐐸𐐯𐐿𐐰𐐻𐐨𐐿𐐰 𐐞𐐰𐑆𐐰𐐿𐐰𐐻𐐯𐐹𐐬𐑆𐐻𐐬𐐻𐐬𐐻𐑊 𐐬𐐿𐐻𐐰𐐿𐐰𐐻𐑊-60, "Ocean Troopers Aerial Transporter Type-60") or MIAEZ-60 (𐐣𐐀𐐈𐐇𐐞-60) is a transport helicopter of tandem-rotor design developed by the NTT 75 aircraft design bureau for the Zacapine Armed Forces, particularly for the use of the expeditionary amphibious units. All existing variants of the aircraft are manufactured as military materiel by the defense industries conglomerate corporation Cuauhquetztia, specifically in the Rotary Aircraft Plant #4 in the Zacaco Republic operated by CQZ Aerospace corporation. The MIAEZ-60 was designed as a multi-purpose combat support and utility helicopter intended to be used by the Naval Infantry of the Zacapine Navy and therefore operate both from the decks of aircraft carriers as well as from expeditionary airfields with potentially poor infrastructure. The aircraft serves in the role of combat insertion and extraction, medical evacuation, logistical support and limited combat roles. To serve in these various roles in support of the Naval Infantry, the craft has a high degree of modularity to allow it to be outfitted according to the needs of the mission.

Development

The design of the MIAEZ-60 would find its origin in a general initiative of helicopter development which began in 1958 with the goal of realizing native military helicopter designs in an effort to improve the technical capabilities of the military industry. Many engineers of NTT 75 were assigned to this task, and would enter into competition for design resources, namely funding for testing and prototyping. This condition of resource scarcity during the development was characteristic of the late 1950s and the whole of the 1960s decade as a wide-reaching program of military modernization and expansion of the defense industry was underway, pushing the NTT program design units into overdrive and increasing the pressure to preform. This would be alleviated by 1960 by which time many of the early designs of helicopter initiative had been weeded out by the demands of the military procurement officials. The demands of the Navy were particularly stringent, wanting a fast helicopter with a high carrying capacity, capability of being heavily armed, and capacity to operate both off a carrier deck which would require a slender and small airframe to save space aboard, as well as the capability to operate in remote expeditionary airfields with limited infrastructure requiring a rugged design with relative ease of maintenance. These were extremely stringent demands which would not be fully met by any of the proposed designs, however the NTT 75's naval helicopter proposal was deemed to be the best in these respects and so would gain approval to proceed to prototyping in April of 1960, only a few months before the Yemac-Tonal T3 Ahuimani gyroplane would begin its prototyping process as well, being the main sibling of the MIAEZ-60 as a product of the helicopter initiative.

Problems with the reliability of the engines delayed the adoption of the craft significantly, as Zacapine designers were not well versed in engine design. The first prototype had insufficient lift capacity to meet the requirements and suffered from a high level of noise and engine exhaust in the cabin that required a serious redesign of the engines. The engines would finally be delivered in 1962, when a final round of testing would see the adoption of the design into the Zacapine military service.

Design

General Characteristics

Sketch of the MIAEZ-60 design

The MIAEZ-60 has a front-and-back tandem-rotor design with two large five-bladed rotors powered by two TTPN-104 engines providing 2,000 kilowatts of power translating to roughly 2,700 horsepower per engine. This provides a maximum speed of 400 kilometers per hour, and a fully loaded cruise speed of roughly 320 kilometers per hour. Two stub wings, located on the upper part of the front half of the fuselage below the front rotor pylon, provide additional stability and have attachment points for additional weaponry and fuel tanks to increase the range. With two additional wing-mounted fuel tanks, the MIAEZ-60 has a maximum range of roughly 700 kilometers or 500 kilometers without them. With a full load, the craft's maximum range is 300 kilometers or 450 kilometers with additional wing tanks. The helicopter has a maximum one-way {[wp|Ferry flying|ferry range}} of 1400 kilometers unloaded or 900 kilometers loaded, allowing MIAEZ-60 engaged in logistics and transport missions to friendly airbases typically launched from offshore aircraft carriers to be undertaken from a significant distance from the coast. The helicopter is crewed by three crewmembers, a pilot, a co-pilot and a gunner operating the chin-turret. Unarmed versions of the MIAEZ-60 do not have a chin-turret and so can be operated with only 2 crewmembers. The carrying capacity of the MIAEZ-60 is significant, able to carry 18 passengers or 1,200 kilograms of cargo internally or up to 2,400 kilograms of cargo as a slung load.

Armament

The versatility of the MIAEZ-60 is most visible in its selection of armament. The aircraft is able to be armed with two 7.65x53mm machineguns mounted on a chin turret and two additional 7.65x53mm door machineguns, which is the most common pattern of armament. The two chin-mounted machineguns can be replaced, together with the entire turret assembly, with a pair of 20mm autocannons to increase the firepower of the helicopter for combat support missions. To further increase the combat power of the MIAEZ-60, two pods of unguided rockets can be mounted on pylons attached to the stub wings. This is done at the cost of more weight, and the rockets must be fired only under particular conditions due to the location of the wings and trajectory of the rockets passing close to the front rotors. Alternatively, all armaments can be removed from the aircraft to create an entirely unarmed variant of the MIAEZ-60. This unarmed variant is significantly lighter than its armed cousins due to the lack of the weapons, turret assembly and ammunition carried onboard, increasing is carrying capacity, and is most often used in logistical support missions as well as in civilianized use by the Zacapine Republican Guards for search and rescue or firefighting operations.