US - Russia - Ukraine Tri-Lateral Talks in Abu Dhabi + US CENTCOM Commander to Visit Israel Saturday + Latvia to Procure Archer SP 155mm Howitzers from Sweden + 2026 US National Defense Strategy

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.