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**Last Saturday, Israel commenced an air bombing attack on the Hamas-ruled Gaza strip. Riki Ellison, Chairman of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance (MDAA), said the skirmish between the two is evidence that Israel needs a strong missile defense system.

“Israel’s lack of protection of its citizens and nearby cities from a continued year round and recent escalated rocket and missile fire from Hamas in Gaza brought upon the Israeli decision to go to war that has and will continue to kill and destroy people and property in the Gaza Strip,” he said.

Ellison added that the MDAA recently toured the area in Israel under assault and determined that the only missile defense system is an early warning system. (Missile Defense Advocacy)

**UPI reports that Russia is testing a new missile for the S-400 Triumf air defense system. If successful, the system may be the ” most formidable long-range anti-aircraft and anti-missile defense system in the world.” (UPI)

**We’ve blogged about President-Elect Barack Obama’s reticence to go forward with missile defense bases in Poland and the Czech Republic. Defense firms in Arizona are concerned that under Obama, their work will slow down. Defense contracts account for over $12 billion of income to the state. Under President George Bush, firms have seen business double. Of course, if the war in Iraq ends, Arizona and other states will see a slow down. But the U.S. should keep up its missile defense for the sake of national security, war or no war. (The Arizona Republic)

**Defense contractor Boeing has snagged a $397 million contract to continue developing the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense program. This system will use interceptor missiles to shoot down enemy missiles in mid-flight. (AP)

 
**Rogue state Iran will upgrade its missile production division, according to news source Xinhua. Brigadier General Mehdi Farahi, head of the Aerospace Organization, said “the reforms are intended to promote efficiency and help fulfill the requirements of the country’s armed forces.”

Additionally, Iran has been developing the Shahab-3 ballistic missile. Although the country denies the allegations, the U.S. believes Iran is developing nuclear weapons. (Xinhua)

**Bizjournals reports that defense contractor Boeing contributed over $193 million to Arizona in 2007. Boeing’s missile defense work on the Ground-based Midcourse Defense program (GMD) generated $94 million in payroll, $137 million in household earnings, and $12.7 million in state and local taxes.

Arizona State University economic professor Lee McPheters said, “Looking at the average earnings across all the jobs created by GMD, both direct and indirect, the GMD program serves not only to expand the size of the economy in Arizona, but also to raise the average standard of living of its residents.” (Bizjournals)

**As expected, the U.S. and Russia are at loggerheads over missile defense bases in Central Europe. Earlier this week, we told you that the two countries would meet to discuss this and other issues. Apparently, the meeting wasn’t fruitful. “On key moments we didn’t succeed in bringing our approaches any closer,” Sergei Ryabkov said. “But this wasn’t unexpected.”

The bottom-line is that Russia wants Barack Obama to kill missile defense base plans in Poland and the Czech Republic, which Russia perceives as a threat. We’d like to think Obama would move forward instead of retreating, but that remains to be seen. We’ll keep you posted. (AP)