China claims to have successfully tested hypersonic capabilities last week. Hypersonic weapons, which travel several times faster than the speed of sound, have long been a concern for the United States military, because they can get through current U.S. missile defenses systems. Although the short test might not be seen as a Sputnik moment, the U.S. cannot afford to allow China’s military development to remain unmatched.

In March, Michael Griffin, the undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, laid out what was at stake if we fail to meet the challenge of hypersonic weapons: “When the Chinese can deploy tactical or regional hypersonic systems, they hold at risk our carrier battle groups. They hold our entire surface fleet at risk. They hold at risk our forward-deployed land-based forces.”