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GA2M2 Candus II

The GA2 Candus II is a single seat twin-engine ground attack aircraft succeeding the previous Candus bomber. Compared to the previous ground attacker, the Candus II has twice the payload (4 bombs) with larger more powerful bombs.

The development for the Candus II began shortly after funding was freed up with the procurement of the S16 Kavus ending. Part of the rapid development approval was to keep the aviation industry working and employed. The initial design was heavily influenced by the S16 Kavus' design utilizing the same jet engines in a twin engine configuration. The air force halted the program due to performance concerns during testing.

Fast forward several months later, the GA2 Candus II was revived when interest in a ground attack aircraft was reignited due to the prospect that such an aircraft could destroy a disproportionate amount of ground targets with impunity if there is no proper air cover provided by the opposing side. The aircraft was brought for consideration once again and after a reevaluation, it was deemed suitable. Interestingly, the company did not do any significant changes and simply re-submitted the design. The Air force however did want some changes made.

The bombs when designed and tested could penetrate 1m of HA beam but in actual live testing dropped at altitude, this rarely happened due to the angle of impact.

The aircraft officially entered service on 16 December, 2022 with both the air force for interdiction and the army for close air support. The navy has shown comparatively modest interest but the company intends to submit it for the navy's Future Naval Strike Program replacing the existing fleet of naval attack aircraft.

While in service, the air force was satisfied with the design but the army was less so. While the guided bombs were effective on slow or stationary targets, the army found it unsuitable for fast moving ground units and often missed. The army decided that they wanted a replacement ground attacker armed with missiles instead of bombs.

Due to a long-standing and persistent capability gap in stand-off weapons for the ground attack role, pilots have adopted bomb tossing techniques. The army also started issuing glide kits to further increase the stand-off range. Combined with the aircraft's fighter-like maneuverability, it is relatively survivable even in contested environments. The bombs when used in such a way could be guided by the Wadjet attack helicopters.

Basic specifications:
Cost: 29,886
Blocks: 407
Weight: 7,683
Volume: 418 cubic meter
Length: 33m
Width: 19m
Height: 8m
Speed: 184 m/s

Bombs:
Radar-fin-9x frag-APN-Signal processor-fin

Ratings:
Total firepower: 21.46, Missile: 21.46
Armor cost: 1.6% (492 materials)

Update Compatibility: 3.5.9
-Release