PARIS, Dec 31: French pilots say they're dead set against allowing armed guards on board flights by French airlines to the United States.

The stand by the country's principal pilots' union is diametrically opposed to the official position taken by the French government that it would be heeding Washington's request.

Says one of the principal spokesmen for the French pilots, Eric Tahon of the ALTER pilots' union: "To imagine that you're going to reduce the problem of terrorism by placing cowboys on board aircraft, it's admitting that you've failed with all of the security measures taken on the ground, also that you've managed to take on board potentially dangerous persons. It's an entirely inadmissible situation."