Saudis to acquire $10 billion of American weapons

General Dynamics Corporation announced on Friday that it has secured the 14-year contract for its Canadian division to sell military vehicles along with training and support services to Riyadh, worth a total of 10 billion dollars.

The vehicles will be produced by General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada (GDLS) in the southwestern city of London in Ontario.

Meanwhile, Canadian International Trade Minister Ed Fast said in a statement that the deal was being made with Saudi Arabia.

Other reports indicate that the true value of the arms deal would be 13 billion dollars.

The Canadian minister championed the deal as a big success for Ottawa, saying that the “landmark contract” would sustain more than 3,000 jobs and boost over 500 companies across the country.

“This is an Olympic win for Canada and for Canadian manufacturers,” said Danny Deep, the vice president of GDLS, adding, “It shows how great people in truly innovative companies like GDLS can compete internationally and bring home the gold.”

The development came despite the Saudi regime’s persisting involvement in supporting violence and terrorist activities across the Middle East, particularly by financing Takfiri insurgents fighting against the Syrian government and backing the rulers of Persian Gulf state of Bahrain in its brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.

This is while Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has also blamed Saudi Arabia for supporting the destructive terrorist bombings across Iraq which has caused hundreds of civilian casualties.

According to a report by London’s International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in early February, the Al Saud’s expenditure on defense has surpassed that of the United Kingdom and France as its spending stood at 59.6 billion dollars in 2013.

Rights group Human Rights Watch said in its January update about the kingdom, “In Saudi Arabia, 2013 was another bad year for human rights, marred by executions and repression of women and activists.”