The Sukhoi Su-15 'Flagon' was a Soviet, all-weather interceptor aircraft. Being introduced in 1965, it had been developed to counter the threat of American strategic bombers, such as the Boeing B-47 Stratojet and the B-52 Stratofortress. This supersonic interceptor would have a thirty-year long career as it was a reliable flying machine, with an impressive rate of climb. Like many combat aircraft of the 1960s, it had a cylindrical fuselage and delta wings. More than 1,200 Flagons would be produced by Sukhoi.
The first prototype of the Su-15, the T58D-1, performed its maiden flight on May 30, 1962. It was flown by Sukhoi chief test pilot, Vladimir Ilyushin. It was powered by two Tumanskyi R15-300 afterburning turbojet engines. By the end of that year, this first prototype had made 56 test flights, showing good performance and handling. With two other prototypes made and tested, the Flagon would be introduced into service with the Soviet Air Force on April 30, 1965, by the Soviet Council of Ministers. Among the variants that were developed from it were the Su-15UM, which was a tandem two-seat trainer, and the Su-15VD , with additional lift engines to provide STOL capability.
Technical Description
The Sukhoi Su-15 was a single-seat, twin-engine monoplane, with all-metal fuselage. It had delta, cantilever mid-wing, with 3 degrees anhedral from roots and leading edge swept at 60 degrees. The wings were of single-spar stressed-skin construction, with three transversed beams (auxiliary spars). The trailing edge was fitted with hydraulically-actuated, one-piece Fowler flaps and ailerons. They were made of duraluminum. The tail horizontal stabilizer (tailplane) was clipped-delta and the vertical stabilizer (fin) was unusually tall and leaned backward. Landing gear was of the tricycle type and hydraulically retractable.
The fuselage was semi-monocoque, riveted stressed skin structure. The forward fuselage had a circular cross-section immediately aft of the conical dialectric radome; it features large detachable panels on the sides for access to the forward avionics bay. The cockpit was fitted with a KS-3 ejection seat and it was enclosed by a sliding bubble canopy. The Su-15TM version was powered by two Tumanskyi R11-F2S-300 turbojet engines, each one delivering 17,196 pounds of thrust. The air intakes were rectangular and they located on the sides of fuselage.
Specifications
Type: all-weather interceptor aircraft.
Length: 20.54 m (67 feet, 5 inches)
Wing Span: 9.34 m (30 feet, 8 inches)
Wing Area: 36.6 m2 (394 square feet)
Height: 5.79 m (19 feet)
Power Plant: two Tumanskyi R11-F2S-300 afterburning turbojet engines.
Maximum Speed: 2,230 km/h (1,395 mph)
Rate of Climb: 228 m/s (748 feet/second)
Service Ceiling: 16,600 m (55,000 feet)
Avionics: one Taifun-M interception radar; one Sobol (or Oryol D58) fire-control radar.
Armament: two K-8M2 and two R-98M medium-range air-to-air missiles; two 23-mm autocannon in gun pods.
Below, front view of the Su-15 parked at a military base in the Far East, Siberia, in the Summer of 1967.
A dorsal view of the first production variant of the Flagon.
Below, a side aspect of the Su-15. You can see its air intake, which was rectangular and raked back.
The Soviet interceptor aircraft in flight. You can notice the K-8M2 and the R-98M air-to-air missiles attached to its underwing hardpoints.
