Reports of cybersecurity threats to the US seem to be alarmingly common these days, with barely a day passing by before a new story rears its head. One day its reports of media organizations’ Twitter accounts being hikjacked, the next its more insidious news of Iranian hackers attempting to take control of US energy installations. Today’s news is perhaps even more worrying, with reports claiming that the Chinese have been able to access the designs of the US military’s most advanced weapons systems.

The article in the Washington Post says the revelations came from a report made to Pentagon chiefs about the antics of China’s PLA Unit 61398 over the past few months. In the report, the authors claim that China has managed to access the blueprints of at least two dozen “major” weapons systems, including a number of anti-missile defense systems said to be vital to national security.

The report, authored by the Defense Science Board, says the ramifications of China getting its hand on the weapons designs are two-fold. On one hand, it’s likely that China will use the stolen blueprints to help develop similar weapons for itself. In turn, this could eventually erode any military advantage the US has over China.

Officials cited by the Washington Post who claim to have knowledge of the matter say these breaches relate to a number of highly publicized incidents over the last few months, in which Chinese military hackers are said to have attacked a number of important organizations. These include both US government agencies and a number of defense contractors.

The report doesn’t go into specifics regarding what was stolen, but the Washington Post cites officials as saying that the PAC-3 Patriot missile system, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense/THAAD ballistic missile system, and the Aegis ballistic missile defense system of the US Navy were among those that were compromised. Other systems thought to have been compromised include the F/A-18, V-22 Osprey, Black Hawk helicopter, and the Littoral Combat Ship.

According to officials, while the US government isn’t completely free of blame for the security breaches, much of the fault lies in the lax security of defense contractors. In some instances, contractors are completely unaware they’ve been hacked until “the FBI comes knocking on the door,” said one official to the Washington Post.

The incident underlines the pressing need for the US to develop a suitable response to ongoing Chinese cyber-aggresiveness. Obama administration officials have certainly made their anger known to the Chinese, but as The Verge recently reported we’ve yet to see any concrete measures materialize. A number of options have been put forth for retaliation, including indicting Chinese nationals linked to the hacks, placing sanctions on related Chinese companies, placing visa restrictions on suspected hackers, and launching offensive countermeasures against the hackers.