For a number of years the military has been trying to have a missile shield system that would help to eliminate any danger from the type of missiles that North Korean launched on Friday. However, over 60 years and $274 billion later it still is not set up. Many missile experts say it is not even close to being completed.

The launch that failed on Friday, North Korean time, was believed by many to be just a cover for a ballistic missile test. A while the rocket appeared to have crashed to sea, the focus the media put on the event raised the process in which the U.S. could defend itself, if long-range missiles similar to the Unha-3 rockets were ever truly operational and fully accurate.

Decades of theorizing, fledgling deployment and testing of missile defense has emerged has a third wheel kind of defense spending. Those in favor insist the mere threat of a missile shield helped to topple the Soviet empire.

The shield is set up to link radar detectors that on an early basis sense and follow missiles from the second of launch with ballistic technology that would then enable them to be shot from the sky. Set up perfectly the idea would shield the country and all its allies form any ballistic attack.

Arguments against the shield say that neither North Korea nor Iran has missiles that are developed with enough range that the proposed shield is set to protect. However, concerns have been raised as the 15 missile intercepts that have been tested by the government seven have not worked. Two failures in 2010 prompted the military to delay any others until December of this year.