Talks between European defense state secretaries involved in the A400M military airlifter program today failed to come to a resolution, with the big sticking point being disagreement among some of the main buyers over whether to provide contractual relief to the EADS-dominated consortium.

Government representatives have said they will endeavor to come to an agreement by year’s end. To help secure a deal, the German government has said it will invite the state secretaries for another round of talks in early December.

France has been looking for ways to alter the deal to make the commercial terms more palatable to industry — the current fixed-price development contract would result in the companies losing money. But the German position has been that industry needs to deliver on the current contract.

EADS officials have signaled they cannot continue under the current terms.

German defense minister Karl-Theodor Freiherr zu Guttenberg has said he’s looking for a sign of goodwill from EADS.