Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell told Agence France Presse late Thursday that it "would consider a reasonable extension to the RFP (Request for Proposals) deadline" for a $35 billion (25.7 billion euros) supertanker contract, currently set for May 10. He added that such an extension was "not unusual."

But it's unclear whether EADS will indeed submit a proposal to build the 179 new refueling aircraft.

"It's clear that in the 60-day timeframe, that it's impossible for anybody, even Lockheed Martin, to build a solution," EADS chief Louis Gallois said earlier on Thursday.

Rooting for the home team?

EADS, the European Aeronautic Defense and Space company, had announced the day before that it was seeking a "medium-sized" acquisition of a US firm in the hopes it would give it a leg up in future bids for American military contracts.

EADS' partnership with American firm Northrop Grumman collapsed earlier this month, along with their previous attempt to bid for the tanker contract.

Both parties, along with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French Prime Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, had complained that the bid rules unfairly favored US competitor Boeing.

The EADS-Northrop team had won the original contract in February 2008, but that was cancelled after Boeing successfuly appealed to Congress.

The new tankers would replace the Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers, which have been in use since the 1950s.

In the last bidding round, Boeing had offered a variation of its 767 aircraft, while EADS and Northrop offered a modifed Airbus 330.

svs/AFP/AP/dpa
Editor: Nancy Isenson