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A $15-billion contract for military supplier General Dynamics in London could keep the plant busy for a long time, its impact rivalling that of a blockbuster sale to the U.S. Army nearly 20 years ago.

Details now are emerging about the Canadian government’s contract to supply the Saudi Arabian government with LAV 6 light armoured vehicles, a deal that includes maintenance and upgrading of the vehicles for at least 14 years, observers say.

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The contract, the largest in London’s business history, could have as big an economic impact on the city as a landmark contract to supply more than 2,000 armoured vehicles to the U.S. Army, a deal still going strong after it was signed 18 years ago.

It was that $6-billion contract to supply those wheeled vehicles, later named the Stryker, which helped to transform the former General Motors Defense in London into a manufacturing export powerhouse, with the corporate parent of its partner in the joint venture, U.S.-based General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS), buying the London company two years later.