Who are the top performing airlines of 2015? Based on our study, it may not be the size of the company, but how well the business is run.

Aviation Week defense editors on the recent success of Dassault’s Rafale and Saab’s Gripen fighters and what that means for the rest of the market. Will it spell doom for the Eurofighter Typhoon? Does Boeing’s F-18 have a shot at more orders in Kuwait. And a peek at the upcoming competition for a Turkish fighter.

Until now, the military has driven development of unmanned aerial vehicles. But the U.S. Navy X-47B’s recent aerial refueling demonstration could be a transition point for the fledgling industry, in which commercial players are increasingly pushing the technical edge.

As NATO and Russia are stepping up air patrols in and around Eastern Europe – including an increasing amount of flights with transponders turned off – aviation safety officials are scrambling to keep the skies safe for commercial airlines.

India hit the reset button on stalled contract talks with Dassault, opting for a government-to-government sale of 36 Rafale fighters. Aviation Week editors Amy Svitak, Bill Sweetman and Jen DiMascio discuss what the deal means for India, Dassault and future combat aircraft competitions.

Ahead of next week's Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, our editors discuss the latest on an American-built engine to send U.S. national security assets to space, competition between ULA and Space X, the state of U.S.-Russian relations and more.

This week's Check 6 podcast comes to you from Pratt & Whitney in East Hartford, Conn. Editors Joe Anselmo and Guy Norris sat down with Greg Gernhardt, the president of Pratt & Whitney Commercial Engines, to talk about the company’s geared turbofan engine and its battle for market share with the CFM LEAP-X.

Aviation has become technically safer and safer. Is it now time to address the pilot as a safety concern? The community has successfully addressed wind shear and controlled flight into terrain. Unintended consequences are certain, as we are seeing in the case of locked cockpit doors, and overly specific solutions are usually not flexible enough to work. Distributed cockpit operations with crew support on the ground could be one means of addressing the problem. The industry is so safe because it has tackled its problems. Technology should be able to help us failsafe pilot actions.

Aviation Week editors discuss the Satellite 2015 Telecom Conference and the state of private investment and technological advances.