Sukhoi Su-15 - Operational History

Operational History

The Su-15 formed a significant part of the V-PVO's interceptor force, and was designed to intercept easier targets such as the American B-52 and U-2, and the British V bombers, leaving the more difficult targets such as the XB-70 and B-58 to the faster MiG-25P. The Taifun radar of the Su-15TM was optimised for counter-countermeasure operation, as opposed to range. As an interceptor, the task of the Su-15TM was to fly under autopilot, using GCI commands sent through the datalink. The radar would only be turned on as the interceptor approached the target in order to provide targeting parameters for the radar homing K-8/R-8/R-98 missiles, the high power of the radar allowing it to 'burn through' enemy ECM signals. If all else failed, IR homing versions of the K-8 would provide a last opportunity to shoot down the intruder, along with any gun pods the Su-15 might be carrying.

The Su-15 was optimised for the high-altitude interception role with its fast climb-rate and high speed at high altitude but lacked look-down/shoot-down capability, even with the Su-15TM's more sophisticated Taifun radar. This eventually led to the MiG-23P, which did have look-down/shoot-down capability, becoming the preferred asset of the V-PVO, especially once NATO switched to low-level penetration tactics. Even so, the Su-15 remained an important part of the V-PVO until the fall of the Soviet Union.

As one of the V-PVO's principal interceptors, the Su-15 was involved in a number of incidents with foreign aircraft intruding into Soviet airspace:

• One such attack was in 1978, when Korean Air Flight 902 tresspassed Soviet airspace and was attacked over Murmansk by a PVO Su-15. Although the civilian aircraft survived the missile hit, two passengers were killed, and the damaged plane subsequently made a forced landing on a frozen lake.
• In a 1981 incident, a Baku, Azerbaijan-based Su-15 deliberately rammed an Argentine Canadair CL-44 of Transporte Aéreo Rioplatense (killing the three Argentines and one Briton aboard) which was delivering arms from Israel to Iran after it strayed into Soviet airspace.
• Most infamously, in the Korean Air Flight 007 incident in 1983, a Korean Boeing 747 was shot down near Moneron Island, after it strayed into restricted Soviet airspace, by a Su-15TM based on Sakhalin, killing all 246 passengers and 23 crew. The incident remains somewhat controversial to this day.

The Su-15 was also credited with shooting down 5 reconnaissance balloons sent to spy on Soviet territory in 1975.

Although it was produced in large numbers (1,290 of all types), the Su-15, like other highly sensitive Soviet aircraft, was never exported to the Warsaw Pact or any other country due to its sophisticated systems. Some Su-15 were reported to be deployed in Egypt in 1972 but were used with Soviet crews. At one point, the Su-15 was considered as a strike fighter, but proved to be too specialised as an interceptor to be used in that role.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, the Su-15 was abruptly retired from the new Russian Air Force in 1993 to comply with the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe. Most were hastily scrapped in favour of more advanced interceptors, including the Su-27 and MiG-31, but some are in reserve storage for emergency use. In the Ukraine, the last Su-15s (at Kramatorsk and Belbek) were withdrawn from use in 1996.