France will buy aircraft tanker A330 MRTT from European airplane manufacturer Airbus Military 1001121.

The Pentagon awarded a $35 billion contact to Boeing after a transatlantic battle that saw European leaders protest when a previous award to Airbus was overturned on appeal from Boeing.

Airbus is owned by European aerospace group EADS, in which the French government has a 15 percent stake.

Asked at a news briefing about previous suggestions that France's own tanker requirements may be opened to competition, Longuet, who became defence minister last year, commented, "that was no doubt before the U.S. decision".

He also said the purchase of European tankers made sense to French forces for operational reasons.

Industry sources say France has considered leasing tankers from Britain for budgetary reasons and as part of an Anglo-French defence pact, but that operations in Libya convinced its planners that an independent capability would be more efficient.

France is expected to buy from five to seven tankers, which refuel fighters and other aircraft to extend their range and time in the air.

The new tankers would replace elderly Boeing C-135 tankers ordered in the 1960s by General de Gaulle.