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 Soviet Su-15, from a base in Georgia, collided with a Canadair CL-44 of Transporte Aéreo Rioplatense (TAP; Argentinian airline), killing the three Argentinians and one Briton on board. The TAP aircraft was allegedly transporting weapons bought secretly from Israel by Iran, when it allegedly strayed into Soviet airspace. While some aviation experts believed the collision was accidental, the Soviet Su-15 pilot claimed that he had been deliberately rammed. In the Korean Air Lines Flight 007 incident in 1983, a South Korean Boeing 747 was fired upon near Moneron Island, after it veered into restricted Soviet airspace, by a Su-15TM based on Sakhalin, with the 747's control surfaces having been disabled as a result of a direct hit to the aircraft's tail. The crippled airliner then crashed into the Sea of Japan off the coast of Moneron, killing all 246 passengers and 23 crew. The Su-15 was also credited with shooting down five reconnaissance balloons sent to spy on Soviet territory in 1975. A close supersonic fly-by of Yuri Gagarin's MiG-15 by a Su-15 led to Gagarin's death in 1968. Computer models show that the Su-15 passed "within meters" of the MiG. 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 for use 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 In Ukraine, the last Su-15s (at Kramatorsk and Belbek) were withdrawn from use in 1996. Variants T-58 Prototype of Su-15. Su-15 (Flagon-A) First production version. T-58VD (Flagon-B) One-off prototype using three Kolesov lift jets in the centre fuselage to provide STOL capability. Not mass-produced. Su-15UT (Flagon-C) Trainer