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* Aim to have operational drone by 2030
* Hollande, Cameron to pressure Russia's Putin on Syria
* France, Britain want Russia to stop "march to Aleppo" (Recasts with quotes, adds details)
By John Irish and Elizabeth Pineau
AMIENS, France, March 3 (Reuters) - France and Britainagreed on Thursday to a 2 billion euro ($2.11 billion) projectto build a drone, as the two allies firmed up military ties amidconflicts in Syria and Libya.
President Francois Hollande and Prime Minister David Cameronmet in northern France as part of a bi-annual summitcommemorating the centenary of the Battle of the Somme in which600,000 British and French soldiers died.
The two leaders also sought to show their unity on the Syriacrisis before a conference call with Russian President VladimirPutin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday.
Paris and London want to apply pressure on Moscow to stopsupporting advances by the Syrian government on Western-backedrebels that they say will be key players in any peace deal.
Cameron and Hollande announced plans for what they said wasa new multi-use unmanned aircraft that would be ready fortechnical checks in 2020 and operational a decade later.
"This will be the most advanced of it kind in Europe,"Cameron told a joint news conference, saying the project wouldcreate significant numbers of jobs in both countries.
Each side will contribute equally to the Future Combat AirSystem project, based on a 120-million-pound joint feasibilitystudy agreed in 2014, official said.
Britain's BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce, alongwith Dassault Aviation, Safran and Thales of France, are taking part, they added.
France and Britain, both permanent veto-wielding members ofthe United Nations Security Council, are engaged in air strikeson Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq.
Hollande and Cameron are also backers of the "moderate"Syrian opposition and repeated their concerns that PresidentBashar al-Assad's forces and allies including Russia werecontinue to target rebel forces despite a new cessation ofhostilities deal.
"We are putting pressure on all the players so that thebombings don't start again and that there is a real negotiationin which the opposition has its place," Hollande said, referringto inter-Syrian peace talks that are due to resume on March 9 inGeneva.
"We need Russia to understand that there is an oppositionthat should not be confused with Islamic State," he said.
Both men said it was vital that the government was in placebefore the Spring to ensure that Islamic State did not usemigration routes across the Mediterranean to send fighters fromLibya to Europe.
"I don't think we can wait to start talking to thegovernment ... we can't have another migration route opening up,Cameron said.
($1 = 0.7113 pounds) (Additional reporting by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by AndrewCallus and Andrew Heavens)