The Altyn helmet is a titanium crash helmet used by Russian special troops in the FSB TsSN (CSN). Altyn refers to a gold coin pieced used in Imperial times which had a value of 3 copecks; altyn may refer to anything which is of special value. Notably the Altyn helmet has been used by teams A (Alfa) and B (Vympel) since it's introduction in the 1980's. It has seen service in Afghanistan, Budyonnovsk, Nord-Ost, Beslan, and many other operations. Although today it is being slowly replaced by NII Stali's Rys-T helmet, it has long been one of the most iconic pieces of equipment in the arsenal of Russian special forces.
Full text at http://ra.spetsnaz.su/wiki/Altyn
