I - On Defense Podcast

For review:
1. The Israel Defense Forces confirmed on Sunday evening that it was searching for the remains of Master Sergeant Gvili, the last remaining hostage held in the Gaza Strip, on the Israeli side of the ceasefire line in the enclave’s north.
2. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced on Sunday that Israel will reopen the Rafah Crossing between Gaza and Egypt after it completes a military operation launched Sunday to recover the body of the last deceased hostage, Master Sgt. Ran Gvili.
3. Commander of the United States Central Command Admiral Brad Cooper was in Israel on Saturday for meetings with senior officials.
Admiral Cooper met with IDF Chief of Staff LTG Eyal Zamir at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv. Intelligence Directorate chief Maj. Gen. Shlomi Binder and Operations Directorate chief Maj. Gen. Itzik Cohen also participated in a meeting with the military chiefs.
4. Iran’s paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, , is “more ready than ever, finger on the trigger,” its commander said Saturday, as US warships headed toward the Middle East.
The IRGC  commander, Gen. Mohammad Pakpour, warned the United States and Israel “to avoid any miscalculation.”
5. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has gone into hiding in a Tehran bunker, according to the opposition-affiliated Iran International news site.
According to the report, which cites “information received” by the opposition news site, the Supreme Leader went underground after senior officials assessed an “increased risk of a potential US attack,” as the US moves significant military forces into the region.
6. IDF Northern Command chief Maj. Gen. Rafi Milo said Sunday that the military is preparing for the possibility that a US strike on Iran could trigger Iranian retaliation against Israel.
He added that Israel is also closely watching whether Hezbollah could join a wider confrontation, saying, “We are very alert, very prepared, and ready both in strong defense and in preparing offensive responses.”
7. Ukraine and Russia ended a second day of U.S.-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi on Saturday without a deal. 
A UAE government spokesperson said there was face-to-face engagement between Ukraine and Russia - tackled “outstanding elements” of Washington’s peace framework.
The UAE statement said the talks were conducted in a “constructive and positive atmosphere.
8. US Army Common Autonomous Multi-Domain Launcher (CAML) Program.
9. Blackbeard Hypersonic Strike Weapon.

For review:
1. Commander of the United States Central Command Adm. Brad Cooper is expected to arrive in Israel on Saturday for meetings with senior officials.
2. Air France and Dutch airline KLM have canceled flights to Israel, Dubai and Saudi Arabia until at least Sunday, citing “security tensions in the region” amid concern of renewed conflict with Iran.
3. Iran’s foreign minister launched a furious tirade on Friday against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after the latter commented in Davos that the deadly crackdown on protests in the Islamic Republic showed that if authorities “kill enough people,” they stay in power.
4. US - Russia - Ukraine Tri-Lateral Talks in Abu Dhabi.
5. Latvia’s government has approved the planned purchase of Archer 155 mm self-propelled howitzers for the country’s armed forces.
6. Pentagon leadership has made “no decision” yet about a potential reorganization that would affect the future of US Africa Command.
In December The Washington Post reported that the Defense Department was weighing a significant reorganization of the combatant commands that could see AFRICOM subsumed with US Central Command and US European Command under a new US International Command. 
7. The Pentagon’s unclassified version of the National Defense Strategy places the homeland as the department’s number one priority above the Indo-Pacific.
The top four priorities for the Pentagon, as ordered by the NDS, are: Defend the US homeland; Deter China in the Indo-Pacific “through strength, not confrontation”; Increase burden-sharing with US allies and partners; & “Supercharge” the US Defense industrial base
8. Armor Not Dead: The Army is rolling out four prototypes of the M1E3 to a platoon this summer — five years earlier than the service initially planned, the Army Chief of Staff said.

For review:
1. Eight prominent Muslim countries jointly announced their decisions to join US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace on Wednesday
Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates will each appoint a representative to sit on the panel of world leaders, their foreign ministers announced in a joint statement.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accepted US President Donald Trump’s invitation to join the Board of Peace, the premier’s office announced Wednesday.
2. A meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to take place on Thursday with “land deals” over Ukraine on the table, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff told CNBC.
3. President Trump: "Concept of a Deal" on Greenland; No Tariffs.
4. Germany will finance the delivery of five Lynx KF41 infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine under a contract signed in December 2025, with the first systems expected to arrive in the coming weeks, Rheinmetall announced Monday.
5. Trophy active protection systems will be integrated on the Leopard 2 A8 main battle tanks of Lithuania, the Netherlands, Czech Republic and Croatia under a €300 million ($351 million) deal, manufacturer Rafael Advanced Defense Systems announced on Monday.
6. The British Army’s newly upgraded Challenger 3 Main Battle Tank has undergone and completed crewed live firing, ticking off a key milestone for the £800 million ($1.08 billion) program, expected to eventually deliver 148 vehicles into service.
7. House and Senate appropriators have agreed on an $838.7 billion defense topline for fiscal 2026 in a bipartisan deal that would boost defense funds by $8.4 billion over the Pentagon’s request.

For review:
1. The Syrian government and the Kurdish SDF announced a new four-day truce after a previous ceasefire between government forces broke down. The two sides have been clashing for two weeks, amid a breakdown in negotiations over the implementation of a deal to merge their forces together.
2. US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that “we think we know” where the body of the final hostage, slain Israel Police Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, is being held in the Gaza Strip
MSG Gvili, a member of the Yasam police unit, was killed battling terrorists at Kibbutz Alumim on October 7, 2023, and his body was abducted to Gaza, where it is still being held.
3. Several European countries are considering whether to stop sending personnel to a US military-led coordination center for Gaza, saying it has failed to increase aid flows to the war-shattered enclave or achieve political change, diplomats said.
The Civil-Military Coordination Center was established in southern Israel in October under US President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza. It was tasked with monitoring the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, facilitating the entry of aid, and developing postwar policies for the Palestinian territory.
4. US Plans Signing Ceremony for Board of Peace in Davos.
5. Israel on Tuesday began demolishing the East Jerusalem headquarters of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees and their descendants, with Israeli forces entering the compound with bulldozers and other demolition equipment in the early morning and destroying buildings in what UNRWA called an “unprecedented attack.”
6. Iran’s foreign minister hit out at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos late Monday for canceling his appearance over a brutal crackdown on recent protests and said the decision was based on “lies and political pressure from Israel.” 
7. Wall Street Journal Report: US President Donald Trump is continuing to push his aides to devise what he calls “decisive” military options against Iran, days after he called off strikes against the Islamic Republic.

For review:
1. A U.S. military strike in northwest Syria resulted in the death of a leader affiliated with Al-Qaeda who was linked to the ISIS attack that resulted in the death of two U.S. Army soldiers and a U.S. civilian interpreter, the U.S. Central Command announced Saturday.
2. President Trump's Board of Peace Invitations Sent: 60 Countries Invited; France Says No.
3. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged Monday that Turkish and Qatari forces would not set foot in Gaza, days after the White House announced that officials from the countries would sit on a key committee set to oversee the Strip’s postwar management.
4. U.S. President Donald Trump is also attending in person for the first time since he addressed the forum during his first term in 2020. Alongside President Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz are set to attend in person.
5. Ukraine's top negotiator Rustem Umerov said on Sunday that talks with U.S. officials would continue at the World Economic Forum opening this week in the Swiss resort of Davos.
6. - U.S. President Donald Trump has linked his drive to control Greenland to his failure to win the Nobel Peace Prize, saying he no longer thought "purely of Peace" as the row over the island threatened to reignite a trade war with Europe.
The President declined to tell NBC News in an interview whether he would use force to seize Greenland. He did reiterate his threat to hit European nations with tariffs if a deal is not reached.
7. A pair of U.S. naval vessels carried out Washington’s first reported Taiwan Strait transit of 2026, according to Chinese and U.S. officials.
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theater Command claimed that Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS John Finn (DDG 113 ) and Pathfinder-class oceanographic survey ship USNS Mary Sears (T-AGS 65) transited the strategic strait between Friday and Saturday.
8. The U.S. and Japan have pledged to further expand joint training across Japan’s southwest region, including the first island chain, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said Thursday.
In a 50-minute meeting held this week in Washington D.C., the two defense leaders agreed to prioritize several initiatives meant to strengthen the response capabilities of the U.S.-Japan Alliance.