The on-again-off-again program has been in limbo since U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates froze it earlier this year, saying it should be assessed in the Defense Department's Quadrennial Defense Review, which reviews weapons programs every four years.

Initial assessments of that review, officials say, suggest the need for both manned and unmanned long-range strike capabilities.

"We are probably going to proceed with a long-range strike initiative coming out of the Quadrennial Defense Review and various other reviews going on," Gates told U.S. troops recently in the contested city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq.

"We are looking at a family of capabilities, both manned and unmanned."

Gates froze the 2010 bomber request last April because the Air Force had not fully outlined the requested parameters, including payload and range of the bomber. It also did not clarify whether the proposed bomber should carry nuclear weapons in addition to conventional ones.

Now, Air Force officials say they have a clearer idea of what they want.

Gates' remarks on the plane project brought a sigh of relief from U.S. defense companies that have been complaining about ailing development programs in recent years.

Last year, for example, Lockheed Martin Corp. teamed up with Boeing Co. to build a new bomber in a contest against Northrop Grumman Corp.

Gates told troops in Iraq that the probable cost of the new bomber would figure around $10 billion in development, although funding was likely to start at $1 billion before being increased in the future.

The defense secretary's remarks preceded announcements by the U.S. military that it was adding more drones and expanding its video surveillance in the skies of war-torn Afghanistan.

There were no immediate details on the number and operation of the surveillance aircraft over the war zone.

The first troop units of the 30,000-strong surge ordered by President Barack Obama have begun trickling into Afghanistan, adding to the estimated 68,000 already deployed there.

Gates told troops during his latest visit that the Pentagon will make good on its promise to buy a large number of planes.

"The biggest procurement program in the Department of Defense today is the F-35 and we're going to end up probably buying among the three services about 2,400 and 2,500 of those aircraft," he said. "That's a big new capability."

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