The OR-201 helmet began to be marketed to foreign recipients of Israeli military aid in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and the first Latin American country to receive it was Nicaragua in 1977-78. With the adoption of Israeli-made small-arms and equipment in 1976, the Somoza Regime ordered substantial quantities of the OR-201 Model 76 to equip the elite and infantry units of its Nicaraguan National Guard. Later during the 1978-79 Nicaraguan Revolution, captured OR-201 helmets were also worn by Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) guerrillas.