The electricity produced in these facilities needs to be stored

 The electricity produced in these facilities needs to be stored in supercapacitors so the energy can be released in a split second. Supercapacitors are heavy and bulky, and repeat use puts a huge burden on their costly, complex components.

But the MHD generator can produce high-power electricity within a simple and relatively compact system.

“The MHD generator has no rotating parts, among its numerous unique advantages,” Zhang and colleagues wrote.

“It has a large capacity and high efficiency. There is no need for intermediate energy storage components. The energy can be directly transferred to the load without a high-power switch. And the device can start up quickly.”

Some large laser weapons under development would need a megawatt or more of electricity to destroy a target from a long distance.

China is developing a high-power microwave weapon capable of jamming planes and satellites that would reportedly require a gigawatt of input energy