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Air Force leaders said Monday the controversial airborne tanker program could not be reopened for competition before late next year at the earliest and it could take as long as three years. That could mean four to six years at the minimum before new aircraft could be available to replace the KC-135s, which are nearly 50 years old.

Appearing at the annual Air Force Association forum, acting Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and Gen. Norton Schwartz, Air Force chief of staff, cited priorities of strengthening the service's control of its nuclear weapons -- the issue that led to the firing of their predecessors in June -- and preparing for a reduction or elimination of the emergency war supplemental funding the military has depended on for five years.

Donley, in a speech to the forum audience, said the prolonged effort to issue a contract for a new refueling tanker "has not been a healthy one for the [Defense] Department, the Air Force or the contractors."

While acknowledging mistakes by the Air Force, Donley complained that after Boeing's successful protest of the initial contract award to the Northrop Grumman-EADS team, the department felt constrained while the contractors were unconstrained in their highly public battle.

Schwartz said later there had been "a lot of heat and smoke" during the protest period.

The two leaders said they were working to review the requirements for the tanker and to revamp their acquisition process. That included discussions with the Government Accountability Office, which rules on contract protests, on how the service can better document its contract award process to stand up to protests, Donley said.

They planned to present a plan to proceed to the new administration, which would take office Jan. 20.

Asked how long it would take to issue a request for bids for the tanker, Schwartz said the "most aggressive" approach would mean eight to 12 months after the new administration was in place, while the longest stretch could be 36 months.

Reviewing bids and awarding a contract could take six months or longer after that, further delaying production of a new tanker that Gen. Arthur Lichte, commander of the Air Mobility Command calls his highest priority.

At a session with defense writers Sept. 3, Lichte said it was "unconconsionable to ask people to fly in combat in 50-year-old airplanes." Lichte said he did not care who builds the new plane, "I just need a tanker."

Donley and Schwartz also emphasized the need to restore discipline and control over the nation's nuclear weapons program. Two incidents of Air Force mishandling of nuclear missiles or a missile component led Defense Secretary Robert Gates to fire then-Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and Gen. Michael Mosley, then the Air Force chief of staff.

The current leaders were unenthusiastic about proposals from a commission led by former Defense Secretary James Schlesinger to put the Air Force bombers and nuclear weapons under an organization spun off from the existing Strategic Command. They said they wanted to be able to present the next administration a range of options to resolve the problem.

On budget matters, Donley said he has directed the Air Force staff to study the implication of a probable transfer of major procurement and operational funding from the war supplemental to the regular budget. He said he was working from his previous experience as Air Force comptroller when war supplemental were terminated after the Persian Gulf War. Although he was not sure how the next administration and Congress will deal with the supplemental, he wanted to be prepared in case emergency funding is cut or terminated.

Leaders of House and Senate defense and budget panels -- including Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member John McCain, R-Ariz., -- have repeatedly called on the Bush administration to pay for continuing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan out of the regular budget and not rely on supplemental appropriations.