Nuke strike could plunge US into blackout like Spain at ANY minute – weapon President Trump needs now to protect 340 million people
AMERICA must install a missile defense shield before the country's electrical grid is wiped out in a nuke strike, an expert has warned.
By Katie Davis & Luke Ridley
May 4, 2025
AMERICA must install a missile defense shield before the country's electrical grid is wiped out in a nuke strike, an expert has warned.
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to construct a futuristic "Golden Dome" to banish threats from countries including Iran.
An electromagnetic pulse is a burst of electromagnetic energy produced by a nuclear explosion in the atmosphere. Credit: Department of Homeland Security
Israel’s Iron Dome air defence system intercepts missiles launched from the Gaza Strip. Credit: EPA
President Donald Trump wants to install a Golden Dome to protect the US. Credit: AFP
But with both Tehran and North Korea rapidly accelerating nuclear development, military historian William R. Forstchen has warned the US needs a defence system sooner rather than later.
President Trump has long been fascinated by Israel's technological marvel that is the Iron Dome and wants to build something much more complex and expensive.
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An Iron Dome missile intercepts rockets fired from Lebanon on September 23, 2024. Reuters
The system has intercepted hundreds of missiles launched from Gaza. Credit: AFP
Operators have just seconds to decide whether to intercept. Credit: Reuters
Technical Sergeant Y said she is proud to defend her country. Credit: Supplied
While the Iron Dome effectively intercepts short-range missiles and rockets, the Golden Dome would need to shoot down much larger and powerful intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Forstchen told The Sun:
"Golden dome is designed as a ballistic defense system for intercontinental.
"It is a strategic defence that would prevent any enemy attack from coming across the Pacific Ocean to hit our facilities with an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) hit, which would wipe out our electrical infrastructure.
"The big fear I've always held is that North Korea has the capacity to launch an ICBM with a nuclear warhead on top.
"When it's detonated above the continental United States, it sets up something called the Compton effect, which blows out the electrical grid of the United States.
"This is a system designed to defend against that."
But right now, Forstchen warned America will be "screwed" if North Korea or Iran unleashes just three small nuclear on the US - making it more vital than ever that President Trump sees through his plan.
It could see the US plunged into darkness like Spain and Portugal last Monday.
Barcelona lies dark during the blackout. Credit: Reuters
Stranded travellers lie around Lisbon airport as air traffic ground to a halt. Credit: Getty
Forstchen said: "I grew up in the 60s and 70s. It was called mutually assured Destruction.
"The big fear back then was the Soviets would launch hundreds of missiles at us.
"We would launch at them. Everybody blows up. Nobody wins the game. Well, it's a different paradigm now.
"Third world players, in particular North Korea and Iran, if it ever achieves nuclear capability, they just have to launch three small warheads about four times the size of a Hiroshima bomb.
"Get it up there 200 miles out. When the weapon blows, it sets up an electrostatic discharge called the Compton effect.
"That shorts our grid off. The grid is not going. It doesn't self-repair. It does not come back online. And basically, to put it in common terminology, we're screwed."
Forstchen - a leading authority on EMP technology who has given guidance on its potential impact to federal and state governments - warned the Dome would be America's only hope against an EMP attack.
An EMP is a burst of electromagnetic energy produced by a nuclear explosion in the atmosphere, that could cause widespread damage to power lines, telecommunications, and electronic equipment.
"EMP distorts the grid off and you lose your electricity," he said.
"The devastation ultimately would be a hundred times worse because the grid is gone. You can't pump water, get food, all the other things we depend upon."
It comes as Trump's Golden Dome hopes gather pace - with his billionaire pal Elon Musk understood to have won the contract to build the incredible missile defence shield.
Musk's rocket and satellite company SpaceX is partnering with software maker Palantir and drone builder Anduril to build key parts.
Plans include building and launching more than 1,000 satellites circling the globe to sense incoming missiles and track their movement, sources told Reuters.
A separate fleet of 200 attack satellites armed with missiles or lasers would then bring enemy missiles down.
SpaceX is understood to be pitching for the part of the Golden Dome initiative called the "custody layer".
It would work as a constellation of satellites that would detect missiles, track their trajectory, and determine if they are heading toward the US.
However, the rocket company is not expected to be involved in the weaponisation of satellites.
Overall cost for the Dome could hit hundreds of billions of dollars, experts say.
President Trump previously warned a missile attack is "the most catastrophic threat facing the United States" - and is in a race to strike a deal with Iran over its controversial nuclear programme.
Scientists work at a uranium processing site in Isfahan, south of Tehran in Iran. Reuters
Satellite images reportedly show a secret missile site in Shahrud, Iran. Credit: Google Earth
The US president vowed "there will be bombing" if Tehran's regime fails to negotiate an agreement.
National security adviser Mike Waltz has said that President Trump wants the "full dismantlement" of Iran's nuclear programme.
He added: "That's enrichment, that is weaponisation, and that is its strategic missile programme."
But Iran hopes a deal to limit, but not dismantle, its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.
Fears of a devastating strike comes as both Iran and North Korea ramp up their nuke schemes.
The Sun previously revealed how Iran's tyrannical regime has been secretly building nuclear warheads for missiles that can fire more than 3,000km.
Satellite pictures uncovered three sites that Iran's leaders claimed were being used as part of a space initiative.
Tehran is building terrifying nuclear warheads for solid-fuel missiles with a range exceeding 1,800 miles (3,000km).
North Korea meanwhile, is understood to have around 50 nuclear weapons and sufficient production of fissile material for six to seven nuclear weapons per year.
Tyrant Kim Jong-un has continued arms build-up in response to what Pyongyang claims is threats from the US and its allies in the region.
President Trump is said to be planning to kick off fresh talks with Kim over his alarming nuclear advances.
Earlier this month, Kim unveiled North Korea's largest naval destroyer that could house a vertical launchpad capable of firing nuclear missiles.
The extent of North Korea's nuclear and missile programme has long been shrouded in mystery - with stations scattered across the hermit kingdom.
But The Sun last month revealed how scheming Kim had constructed a new missile base disguised as a private golf course.
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I'm not so sure we don't have a protective "dome".