A U.S. congressman has warned that a reported Chinese test of a hypersonic missile should serve as a call to action for the United States.

Representative Mike Gallagher said China had increasingly credible capabilities to undermine American missile defenses and threaten the United States.

Britain's Financial Times newspaper reported that the hypersonic device circled the globe in a low space orbit before cruising towards its target.

Cameron Tracy is from the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford.

[Clip: Tracy]
"Everyone is racing to get these weapons among the major military powers. So, more than 3 billion dollars per year are currently going to the development of hypersonic weapons in the U.S. So, that's a large pot of money and there's a strong incentive for those developing these weapons to make the case that they're revolutionary, that they're going to change the world."