The U.S. is developing advanced space weapons and a missile shield, according to Pentagon officials who spoke at a conference just outside Washington on Monday. 

The military now has a weapon in orbit around the Earth, Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink announced at the Air and Space Forces Association conference in Oxon Hill, Maryland, the Washington Times reported. 

Meink didn't elaborate on the nature of the weapon during his keynote address at the conference, but said it is "capable of defending the joint force against hostile adversary action." 

The announcement suggested that the U.S. is now openly engaged in military competition in space with China and Russia. 

Meink also said that the Air Force plans to conduct the first launchpad test of the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile next year. The system, whose development is led by Northrop Grumman, will replace the 50-year-old Minuteman III program.