Sukhoi Su-15

The Sukhoi Su-15, NATO reporting name Flagon, was a twinjet supersonic interceptor of the Soviet Union, designed to replace the Su-11 and Su-9 as NATO fielded newer strategic bombers. The prototype first flew on 30 May 1962, production was approved that February, and the type entered service in 1965. Some 1,290 were built between 1965 and 1979, and it formed the backbone of the Soviet interceptor forces from the 1960s into the 1980s, never being exported because of its sophisticated systems. It was involved in the 1983 interception of Korean Air Lines Flight 007. After the fall of the Soviet Union the Su-15 was retired from the new Russian Air Force in 1994 to comply with the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe.