The first 20 years of Sukhoi supersonic interceptor development from the Su-9 and Su-11 to the Su-15 Charts the history of Sukhoi's early supersonic interceptors, including paper projects, as well as operational details The Su-15 became the true guardian of the Soviet skies—and a symbol of the Cold War

In the late 1950s, the Sukhoi Design Bureau, already an established fighter maker, started work on a successor to its Su-9 and Su-11 single-engined interceptors for the national Air Defence Force. Similar to its predecessors, the new aircraft designated Su-15 had delta wings; unlike the Su-9/Su-11, however, it had twin engines and lateral air intakes freeing up the nose for a powerful fire control radar. First flown in May 1962, the Su-15 officially entered service in 1965 and was built in several versions, the late ones having cranked-delta wings and a more capable radar. Being an air defence fighter, the Su-15 frequently had to deal with intruders. Unfortunately the aircraft gained notoriety in two separate incidents involving shoot-downs of Boeing airliners (a 707 in 1978 and a 747 in 1983), both of which were South Korean and had intruded into Soviet airspace on what was very probably clandestine spy missions.??This book describes the developmental and service history of the Sukhoi-Su-15, containing a comprehensive survey of all model-making kits currently available on the market.

A history of this supersonic Soviet interceptor, including useful information for model makers. In the late 1950s, the Sukhoi Design Bureau, already an established fighter maker, started work on a successor to its Su-9 and Su-11 single-engined interceptors for the national Air Defense Force. Similar to its predecessors, the new aircraft, designated Su-15, had delta wings; unlike the Su-9/Su-11, however, it had twin engines and lateral air intakes freeing up the nose for a powerful fire control radar. First flown in May 1962, the Su-15 officially entered service in 1965 and was built in several versions, the late ones having cranked-delta wings and a more capable radar. Being an air defense fighter, the Su-15 frequently had to deal with intruders. Unfortunately the aircraft gained notoriety in two separate incidents involving shoot-downs of Boeing airliners (a 707 in 1978 and a 747 in 1983), both of which were South Korean and had intruded into Soviet airspace on what were very probably clandestine spy missions. This book describes the developmental and service history of the Sukhoi Su-15, and contains a comprehensive survey of all model-making kits currently available on the market.

Soviet aircraft industry was an essential part of the USSR’s campaign for global dominance in the twentieth century. Thanks to the thick fog of secrecy that enveloped it throughout the Cold War, it has long inspired the fascination of analysts and enthusiasts in the West; until the collapse of the USSR in 1991, details of Soviet aircraft were often a matter of conjecture. This book aims to uncover fully the mystery surrounding this topic. Drawing on original and previously unpublished information obtained directly from the former USSR, Soviet Aircraft Industry examines the unique characteristics of Soviet-designed aircraft—particularly military types, which were the cause of great concern to the West. Further, by virtue of the industry’s central role throughout Soviet history, this book provides a rare and important perspective into the broader theme of Russia’s great communist experiment.

On 18 July 1981, a Canadair CL-44D Swingtail cargo aircraft of the Argentine company Transporte Aéreo Rioplatense mysteriously disappeared over the Soviet Republic of Armenia while on a flight from Iran via Turkey in the direction of Cyprus. Four days later, on 22 July 1981, the Vremya TV broadcast in Moscow forwarded a report from the Soviet TASS news agency which stated that an aircraft of unidentified origin had entered Soviet territory in the vicinity of the Armenian city of Yerevan. According to the same release, the aircraft had ignored all calls from air traffic control and ended up crashing and burning after colliding with another Soviet aircraft. With this cryptic information began one of the most impressive and least known stories of Argentine civil aviation: the shooting down of the freighter registered as LV-JTN by the Soviet Air Defense Force (V-PVO). The episode, heavily covered up by Moscow, was part of a much larger geopolitical scenario: the clandestine transport of US-made weapons and spare parts that was taking place between Tel Aviv and Tehran by virtue of a secret agreement between the Iranian and Israeli governments. All this at a time when the former was subjected to an arms embargo in revenge for the hostage-taking that occurred in 1979 at the US Embassy in Tehran. The Islamic Republic of Iran, formed as a result of the Islamic Revolution that had broken out that same year, was an avowed enemy of Israel, whom it considered a mere Zionist regime that imposed itself in the occupation of Palestine. The Iranian religious leader Ruhollah Khomeini did not recognize the State of Israel, which he referred to simply as ‘Little Satan’. However, the Iranians desperately needed supplies of US weapons as a few months earlier, on 22 September 1980, they had been invaded by Iraq. The Israelis saw the possibility of carrying out a sideline business and thus embarked on a clandestine supply operation. The intelligence services of the Soviet Union soon became aware of the secret arms trafficking and decided to divert one of the involved aircraft into their airspace then force it to land in their territory with the aim of exposing the operation and all its protagonists. By interfering with radio communications and manipulating navigational aids, the KGB managed to divert the Argentine CL-44D from its route, with it ending up inside Soviet airspace. However, the Sukhoi Su-15TM interceptors of the V-PVO failed in their mission, and thus their ground control ordered the destruction of the target. The Soviet conspiracy of silence began after discovering that its Air Defense Force had destroyed an Argentine-flagged civil plane, with an Argentine crew, which was flying empty. Juliet Tango November explores this incident in detail and is richly illustrated with color images and previously unseen photographs.

Brought out in the late 1970s as a successor to the obsolete Tu-126 airborne early warning aircraft, the A-50 co-developed by the Il'yushin and Beriyev bureaux is one of the most interesting military variants in the field of IL-76 military transport. Differing outwardly from the latter mainly in having a conventional ñsaucerî rotodome, the A-50 entered flight testing in 1980; the new Soviet AWACS entered service four years later. The improved A-50M was developed several years after that. The type continues in service with the Russian Air Force today, and the fleet is being upgraded to A-50U standard. ??This book describes the A-50's thrilling developmental history, taking in its many variants (including the A-50EI export model for India) and gives an extensive overview of the various scale model kits covering the subject currently available on the market.

The MiG-31 started life as an advanced derivative of the famous MiG-25P interceptor, becoming the first Soviet fourth-generation combat aircraft. First flown in 1975, it differed from its progenitor primarily in having a crew of two (pilot and weapons systems operator), a highly capable passive phased-array radar _ a world first _ and new R-33 long-range missiles as its primary armament. The maximum speed was an impressive Mach 2.82, the cruising speed being Mach 2.35. The type entered service in 1981; more than 500 copies were built between 1981 and 1994. The powerful radar and other avionics allowed the MiG-31 to operate as a 'mini-AWACS' scanning the airspace and guiding other interceptors to their targets; a flight of three such aircraft in line abreast formation could cover a strip 800 km (500 miles) wide. To this day the MiG-31 remains one of the key air defence assets of the Russian Air Force. The book describes the MiG-31's developmental history, including upgrade programmes, and features a full and comprehensive survey of the various MiG-31 model-making kits currently available on the market.