Hey again,
The article you list is fairly ambiguous on who the subcontractor is (Amnesty International France, 2020), but I understand how you could take the quote either way. It even goes on to say that Cockerill was charged with delivering 700 turrets to equip the 928 Canadian vehicles to be sent to Riyadh:
“Un contrat de sous-traitance avec la firme canadienne General Dynamics Land System-Canada (GDLS-C) pour un montant de 4,5 milliards d’euros. Elle est chargée de livrer environ 700 tourelles-canons pour équiper les 928 véhicules blindés légers canadiens envoyés à Riyad.”
However, Chase and LeBlanc (2016) clarify that GDLS-C and CMI Defence are contractor and subcontractor respectively:
“Some of the armoured combat vehicles Canada is selling to Saudi Arabia in a controversial $15-billion arms deal will feature medium- or high-calibre weapons supplied by a European subcontractor – such as a powerful cannon designed to shoot anti-tank missiles.”
“Details about the turreted weapons have been slow to emerge because both General Dynamics Land Systems (Canada) and its Belgian supplier CMI Defence, part of CMI Groupe, are saying little about the contract and subcontract.”
The “contract of the century” quote in the Amnesty International France article comes from this article by RTBF, who state that Cockerill is the subcontractor to GLDS-C (RTBF, 2014):
“En fait, l’entreprise sérésienne est sous-traitant pour le compte d’un groupe canadien. Mais cette commande est capitale: elle consacre la montée en puissance de la branche militaire de la société CMI.”
In fact, the contract for sale to the Saudis was renegotiated by the Canadian federal government (Sevunts, 2020) after the breakdown of trade relations following Jamal Khashoggi’s assassination. Canadian Commercial Corporation is listed as the prime contractor (Chase, 2015) (Perry, 2016).
As well, GDLS owns the license to the finished product as they continue to market it, specifically with the Brazilian Army’s VBC-Cav MSR program.
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References:
Amnesty International France. (2020). Armes la France, terre d’accueil. Amnesty International. Retrieved from: [Révélations] En France, un centre de formation pour des soldats saoudiens - Amnesty International France
Chase, S. (2015). Ottawa’s arms deal with Saudi Arabia contingent on secrecy. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved from: Ottawa's arms deal with Saudi Arabia contingent on secrecy - The Globe and Mail
Chase, S. & LeBlanc, D. (January 6, 2016). Armoured vehicles in Saudi deal will pack lethal punch. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved from: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/armoured-vehicles-in-saudi-deal-will-pack-lethal-punch/article28046099/
RBTF. (August, 2014). L’entreprise sérésienne CMI décroche un “contrat du siècle” en Arabie. RBTF. Retrieved from: L'entreprise sérésienne CMI décroche un 'contrat du siècle' en Arabie - RTBF Actus
Perry, D. (March 21, 2016). The other side of Canada’s deal with the Saudis. Vanguard Canada. Retrieved from: The other side of Canada’s deal with the Saudis – Vanguard
Sevunts, L. (April 10, 2020). Canada cuts new deal with Saudi Arabia, clearing way for more arms sales. Radio Canada International. Retrieved from: https://www.rcinet.ca/en/2020/04/10/canada-cuts-new-deal-with-saudi-arabia-clearing-way-for-more-arms-sales/
