Sukhoi Su-15

what is it?

The Sukhoi Su-15 (NATO reporting name: Flagon) is a twinjet supersonic interceptor aircraft developed by the Soviet Union. It entered service in 1965 and remained one of the front-line designs into the 1990s. The Su-15 was designed to replace the Sukhoi Su-11 and Sukhoi Su-9, which were becoming obsolete as NATO introduced newer and more capable strategic bombers.

🔎How to recognise it: 2 jet engines · 9.4 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 2,230 km/htop speed
• range 1,380 kmwithout refuelling
• size 17.9 tmax take-off weight
• built 1,300made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 64 years ago, in 1962.
• 🏎️Top speed is 17.2× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 💥Faster than sound: up to Mach 1.8 (sea-level speed of sound ≈ 1,235 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 9.4 m: about 2 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🐘Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 3 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 🌍Range of 1,380 km: 8× Amsterdam to Brussels.
• 🏔️Can fly 2.0× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

jet: Gas turbine pushing air out the back (turbofan or turbojet): fast and high-flying.

spec sheet

first flight

1962-05-30

introduced

1965

retired

1996

status

retired

number built

1,300

role

interceptor aircraft

origin

🇷🇺 Soviet Union

makers

Sukhoi, Novosibirsk Aircraft Production Association

engines

2× Tumansky R-13F-300 / Tumansky R-13

crew

1

length

19.6 m

wingspan

9.4 m

height

4.8 m

max take-off weight

17.9 t

top speed

2,230 km/h

range

1,380 km

ceiling

18,100 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.