A consortium led by EADS, the Franco-German aerospace group, was yesterday awarded a £13bn ($26bn) contract by the British government to provide air-to-air refuelling tankers to the Royal Air Force.

The move is a further boost for EADS' ambition to become the global provider of choice of the tankers and comes just weeks after the group and its US partner, Northrop Grumman, were awarded a contract to provide refuelling tankers to the US Air Force.