In a ruling Tuesday, government auditors upheld the U.S. Air Force's decision to award an $80 billion classified contract to Northrop Grumman for a new long-range stealth bomber. While their rejection of a protest filed by Boeing and Lockheed Martin -- the world's two largest defense firms -- is being touted as a financial boon for Northrop, the unseen winners are the Air Force's arms buyers who worked behind the scenes evaluating the bids. "We're pleased with the decision and we're anxious to get started on the program," Frank Kendall, the Defense Department's top arms buyer, said in a statement provided by a spokesman. For the past nine years, the Air Force's acquisition corps has been living in the shadows of two huge contracts the Government Accountability Office said it bungled: a $15 billion deal in 2007 to buy a new fleet of search-and-rescue helicopters and a $35 billion award in 2008 to buy a new aerial tanker that could refuel planes in flight. Both contracts were canceled.