Aviation Week's Check 6 Podcast

Aviation Week's Robert Wall and Garrett Reim are joined by Russ Matijevich, space industry veteran and a judge in the Space Tech Challenge Awards. Nominations are now open for the awards—could your solution be a winner?
Find out more and apply here: https://spacetechchallenge.aviationweek.com/
The Space Tech Challenge Awards connect execution-ready innovations with the government agencies, prime contractors, and commercial operators actively seeking them. From lunar operations to Mars missions, the space industry faces nearly 200 validated capability gaps. The Aviation Week Space Tech Challenge Awards recognize solutions already in development — prototypes tested and advancing toward deployment. Presented at Space Tech Expo USA, this program connects working technologies with government agencies, prime contractors, and commercial operators ready to integrate them.

Airframers' 2025 delivery totals are in. Aviation Week's team grades Airbus, Boeing and the smaller OEMs on their production performance last year.

Analyst Byron Callan joins Aviation Week editors to discuss U.S. President Donald Trump's attack on contractor profits and his plan to boost defense spending by 50%.
Find out more about Aviation Week's Defense Conference here

Watch as Richard Aboulafia joins the podcast to discuss how 2026 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for two next-generation fighter programs conceived in Europe: FCAS and GCAP.
Subscribers can read Richard's column on the Global Combat Air Program here
Find out more about Aviation Week's Defense Conference here

In the annual Flubs & Forecasts edition of Check 6, editors reflect on what they got right and wrong in 2025 and make their predictions for 2026.
Listen in as Aviation Week & Space Technology Editor-In-Chief Joe Anselmo hears from Christine Boynton, Michael Bruno, Brian Everstine, Guy Norris, Garrett Reim, Lee Ann Shay, Robert Wall and Graham Warwick. Check 6 will be back in 2026.
Thank you to our sponsor GE Aerospace. Learn more about how GE Aerospace and its partners are defining flight for today, tomorrow, and the future here