The recent flight of a Chinese spy balloon over the United States and the subsequent military shoot-downs of the surveillance platform and three other unidentified flying objects have stoked new concerns that America may have more to fear from the low-tech ingenuity of its rivals than from any cutting-edge advancement they may be developing.

National security experts have been sounding the alarm for years about U.S. failures to match or exceed its primary competitors in a host of technological realms, including hypersonics, stealth, and artificial intelligence.