The disagreement between President Obama and the Congress over the U.S. defense budget is not expected to have any effect on awarding a contract for the development of a new Long-Range Strike bomber (LRS-B, or B3) for the U.S. Air Force. The assistant Air Force secretary for acquisition said at a conference on Tuesday that even if the Pentagon must live with a continuing resolution for the new fiscal year, the service will award the contract.

Defense News cited assistant secretary William LaPlante: “We’re in the final closing phase and it’s going well and you should expect to hear something pretty soon.” Another Air Force official said that an announcement of the award would come within the next few months. The original timetable for the award had called for the announcement to be made this past summer.

The two main competitors for the award are Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE: NOC) and a team comprised of Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) and Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT). Northrop Grumman designed and built the current B-2 bomber. Boeing is currently building a new tanker for the Air Force, the KC-46A, and Lockheed is building the F-35.

In early September the chairman and the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee wrote to Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James complaining about an accounting error on the B-3 program and demanding a detailed, line-by-line review of the program. Secretary James has promised to reveal more details when the contract is released.

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The Air Force’s undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics, Frank Kendall, told Bloomberg News on Monday that he hopes to commence a review by the Defense Acquisition Board and reach a decision this month. The board’s approval is required before the contract can be awarded.

Bloomberg News also noted that the Air Force plans to acquire a fleet of 100 of the new bombers and that each one may cost more than $800 million. The first B-3 is expected to be deployed by the middle of the next decade.

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