(Adds Morin on naval, aircraft options, paragraph 8)

By David Brunnstrom

DEAUVILLE, France, Oct 1 (Reuters) - The global financial crisis shows the need for the European Union to pool its limited defence resources, French Defence Minister Herve Morin said on Wednesday.

Morin said after talks with his 26 EU counterparts on a French drive to boost EU defence capabilities that a number of countries had pledged support for the proposals.

"I have seen a very constructive attitude," he told a news conference after talks in the Normandy town of Deauville.

"There are two ways you can face an economic crisis, when you have reduction in state revenue," he said.

"One is to say, let's forget everything and say there is nothing we can do in the future. The other reaction is to say, we may have less available, so let's pool our resources. That's a more intelligent response, surely. Let's share we've got."

France, holder of the rotating EU presidency, has been seeking commitments to initiatives to make up shortfalls in helicopters and transport aircraft and on naval cooperation to allow for quick and effective deployments in crises.

Morin said 10 countries had committed to assist an EU operation against piracy off the African coast and 10 to the transport aircraft project. A number, including France, Finland, Germany, Luxembourg and Britain, had pledged money for a trust fund to upgrade Europe's existing helicopter fleet.

Morin said the A400M transport aircraft project could involve lending aircraft between states or the creation of a multinational fleet. He said a number of countries committed to launch a programme in which vessels that accompanied aircraft carriers in a proposed carrier group sould be shared resources.

President Nicolas Sarkozy has made improving EU defence capabilities a precondition for rejoining NATO's military structure which President Charles de Gaulle quit in 1966.

THE NATO UMBRELLA

France partially reintegrated into NATO in the 1990s and has made big contributions to its missions since, but has continued to see a stronger Europe as a way of balancing U.S. power.

It remains absent from some key NATO forums, but diplomats say an April NATO summit could herald its return.

U.S. NATO envoy Kurt Volker told a Brussels briefing Washington expected this but feared France's drive to boost the EU's military would, as with similar projects within NATO, encounter a reluctance among allies to provide extra resources.

"The question is, are people willing to invest the resources to create the capabilities needed?" he asked.

NATO says it welcomes any moves to boost European defence. Its spokesman, James Appathurai, told a regular briefing that 10 NATO nations plus Sweden and Finland had signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly purchase three C-17 transporters.

"What is happening in the markets and its impact on budgets gives a new impetus to the discussions ... about cooperation and efficiency in the use of our capacities," he said.

"It makes it more and more important to have efficiency," he added, citing as possibilities the creation of further joint programmes and reducing overlaps and duplication in resources. (Additional reporting by Mark John in Brussels; Editing by Richard Balmforth)

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