The last updates have been absolute gamechangers for building and designing creations. I myself have been experimenting a lot with internal bomb bays, which inspired me to create this medium bomber challenge.

Bombers have been essential part of warfare for decades. At the time of their inception, their devastating destructive power was unmatched by any weapon of war that came before it. Although it can be argued the “golden” age of bomber aircraft has passed, there are still plenty of bombers in use around the world.

There are many different types of bomber aircraft, most of which can be divided into three sub-classes: light, medium, and heavy. According to Wikipedia: ‘A medium bomber is a military bomber aircraft designed to operate with medium sized bombloads over medium range distances.’ However, if you ask me the explanation creates more questions than it answers. For the sake of clarity, I have added a list of features I believe any medium bomber should conform to.

Your aircraft should have the following characteristics:

• Twin-engine
• Twin-seater (For example: a pilot and a navigator)
• Internal bomb bay
• Capacity to carry at least four bombs / cruise missiles, not all weapons are required to be in the bomb bay; feel free to mount some externally.

Feel free to make a replica or fictional medium bomber from any era. It can be supersonic, subsonic, carrier-based, VTOL, etc. As long as your aircraft has the features listed above, your submission will count.

Rules for this challenge:

• Must be a successor to this post!
• Please stick to the aforementioned characteristics
• No more than 1250 parts. (Please disable the drag calculations on parts that do not need to have their drag calculated!)
• Preferably no modded parts (XML modding is fine. Build that require me to download a mod will be ignored.)
• Feel free to submit multipole builds.
• The description of your creation should include the controls for your bomber, as well as a bit of an explanation / lore behind it’s design.
• I myself a not a huge fan of infinite fuel.

Factors that play a role on scooring:

• The looks of your creation.
• The flight model of your creation.
• The concept behind your creation; what is the lore behind your aircraft, in what way would it be used during combat, etc.
• How unique is your creation?
• The overall build quality (think of part efficiency, etc).
• How well does your aircraft perform as an attack aircraft?
• The description of your build.

CAS, which stands for ‘close air support’, is an essential part of modern combat. Although CAS can be carried out by fighters and bombers, purpose build attack airplanes and helicopters accel at providing air support. An aircraft that is specialized in ground attack is truly a force to be reconned with.

What is a HVY CAS aircraft?
I challenge you to build your own CAS aircraft. However, not just any CAS aircraft; a heavy CAS aircraft. But… What does that mean?

An attack aircraft is a military aircraft capable of carrying out airstrikes with great precision, while being capable of enduring heavy air defences. The definition of a heavy attack aircraft is a little harder to pin down. Historically, heavy attack aircraft were light-bombers adapted to the ground attack role. Think of the A-26 or the IL-28Sh.

However, I propose to allow a lot more freedom than this historic HVY CAS aircraft. Your heavy attack aircraft should conform to the following requirements:

• Either an airplane or helicopter.
• A minimum of two engines, these can be any engine and even two different types of engines.
• Subsonic.
• Plenty of air to ground munitions.
• Plenty of countermeasures (for modern aircraft).
• At least some capacity to fight of enemy aircraft (Examples: AIM’s or turrets).
• A fuselage designed to withstand hits from small arms fire for an extended period of time.

Even with these requirements, what is and what isn’t a heavy attack aircraft is still a bit blurry. I would like to invite you to embrace this; it allows for more freedom.

Rules for this challenge:
- Must be a successor to this post!
- Please stick to the HVY CAS aircraft requirements.
- No more than 750 parts.
- Preferably no modded parts (XML modding is fine. Build that require me to download a mod will be ignored.)
- Feel free to submit up to 3 builds.
- In the description of your creation, please include the controls and the design philosophy / lore behind of aircraft.
- Please abstain from infinite fuel.

Factors that play a role on scooring:
- The looks of your creation.
- The flight model of your creation.
- The concept behind your creation; what is the lore behind your aircraft, in what way would it be used during combat, etc.
- How unique is your creation?
- The overall build quality (think of part efficiency, etc).
- How well does your aircraft perform as an attack aircraft?
- The description of your build.

Bonus points for:
- Non-replicas: custom creations will always be cooler than replicas in my eyes.
- The capability to take off and land on rough terrain is a plus.
- Realistic flight models.
- Realistic design: feel free to XML mod anything, but I personally value believable weight, speed, and weapons.

Deadline has passed, challenge is now closed.

Awards / After the deadline:
Once all builds have been submitted, I plan on livestreaming while I check out and comment on the submitted creations. I will do this on my YouTube channel.
At some point after this livestream, I will upload a video to my YouTube channel showcasing some of the best, coolest and most unique submissions. I will probably do this in a style similair to this video.

Ofcourse, all builds submitted will receive an upvote.