WASHINGTON — Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan on Wednesday downplayed concerns about Russian and Chinese efforts to develop hypersonic arsenals.

"We are going to fly sooner and more often than people have ever expected," Shanahan told a small group of reporters.

"At the end of the day it's about putting things in the air," he said, adding that the U.S. approach to the development of hypersonics would be in alignment with future defense budget requests.

"Part of what we are doing is figuring out how many do we need, how do we make this more modular, and how do we stand up the industrial base that goes along with this," said Shanahan, who is in charge of planning for America's future wars.

"I think we are doing the hard, smart, heavy lifting, moving out on implementation, and we are planning to scale," he added, noting that the development of hypersonics would be a joint effort between the sister service branches.