In a major boon to U.S. defense contractors, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday that the Air Force will resume control over the competition to pick a new aerial refueling tanker, and he reversed course and threw his support behind the service’s effort to develop a new generation of bombers.

Both announcements, which were made during a speech to the Air Force Association, were welcome developments to the defense industry audience, which has seen many top programs cut, scaled back or delayed because of the economic crisis and slipping support for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The audience was so miffed with Gates that few in the back sections clapped when he took the stage.

The Air Force has been trying since the beginning of the decade to replace its fleet of KC-135 tankers, which date from the Eisenhower era. Two attempts to acquire new tanker aircraft were stalled — the first amid corporate high jinks, the second by corporate protest — leading Gates to assume oversight for the new plane.

Gates said he was returning control of the program to the Air Force. But while he expressed confidence in Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and Chief of Staff Norton Schwartz to execute the tanker program and bid process, Gates said his office would continue to maintain a “robust oversight role.” And he provided a few words of caution.

“I don’t need to belabor the importance of getting this done soon and getting this done right,” Gates said. “We cannot afford the kind of letdowns ... and corporate food fights that have bedeviled this source selection for years.”

The two teams competing for the next tanker contract, led by Boeing on one side and by Northrop Grumman and the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. on the other, are eagerly awaiting the release of new draft bid specifications.

Donley said the release of the request for proposals is “close” and will be circulated to the companies “with ample time for discussions.” He said the formal bid specifications will be released later this year, and a contract will be awarded in 2010.

Officials said the request could go out in the next two weeks.

The politics surrounding the competition are already in full swing.

Members of Congress are eagerly awaiting the release of the specifications, and congressional delegations from Washington and Kansas are pushing hard to include language referencing a recent trade dispute between the United States and the European Union over civil aircraft subsidies.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) has written letters to President Barack Obama and Gates, saying that the World Trade Organization should influence the Pentagon’s decision on tankers.

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), meanwhile, argues that Murray and other lawmakers are misusing the WTO’s decision.

Gates’s other announcement Wednesday backing the development of a new long-range bomber also provided relief to the Air Force crowd.

Gates made big headlines with his proposed Pentagon budget by cutting the F-22 Raptor and 50 other military programs, one of which was the Air Force’s plan to develop a next-generation bomber — an aircraft that could strike targets across the globe.

For many years, a new bomber was a top priority for the Air Force, which wanted to develop it by 2018, but Gates’s budget cuts threw all of that into doubt.

On Wednesday, Gates turned that around, declaring: “I am committed to seeing that the United States has an airborne long-range strike capability.”

The defense secretary cautioned, however, that the program should not repeat the history of the B-2 bomber, which cost $2 billion each, leading to a preciously small fleet.

“Whatever system is chosen to meet this requirement — be it manned, unmanned or some combination of the two — it should be one that realistically can be produced and deployed in the numbers originally envisioned,” he said.

At the end of the speech, there was more applause in the audience, but early reaction from the Air Force Association was guarded.

“We agree with everything he says, and we can’t enter a financial death spiral with the acquisition costs,” said Doug Birkey, a lobbyist for the Air Force Association. “However, it’s essential that core research and development capabilities are brought online so we can address this issue once the program is restarted.”