The Russians love firing missiles out of the main guns going as far back as the T-64B and the AT-8. Older tanks such as the T-55 and T-62 have been modernized to have ATGM capability. The only Russian tank that doesn’t have ATGM capability is the T-72 even though the T-90 is actually a modernized T-72.
And they never get rid of anything, I bet they have depots full of T-34/85’s, IS-2, IS-3, T-10, etc somewhere east of the Urals.
But why?
I don’t think a Sheridan ever fired a missile in anger...and I wonder if a Russian tank has either.
I don’t understand what a missile can do that a HEAT round can’t. If the Ruskies are still sticking to the missile and autoloader, they really are stuck in the past, IMHO.
BTW, in an earlier post, you mentioned the M1-IP! Half the tankers I talk to have never even heard of it. In 1991, that’s what we had at Camp Casey, Korea. Blast from the past.