Local manufacture of missiles the priority: Marles

Defence Minister Richard Marles says local manufacturing of long-range missiles is Australia's priority.

The defence strategic review released last Monday found the Australian Defence Force was not fit for purpose and called for developing the capability for precision strikes at longer range.

Mr Marles said the war in Ukraine showed that the stocks of long-range missiles being among "friends and allies is just not what we would want".

"It's actually quite difficult to go out there right now and procure long-range missiles and we need more of them," he told ABC's Insiders on Sunday.

"The priority of what we need to do, is to get what stocks we can get right now, and to get into the manufacture of long-range missiles."

The defence minister said Australia's ultimate ambition was to establish a production line with companies in the country which would manufacture long-range strike missiles.

"We hope that we can begin with the assembly of the strike missiles that go in the HIMAR system," he said, referring to the highly accurate US-made long-distance missile launch systems.

"But we want to build on that so that we're actually manufacturing the full suite of these weapons in Australia."

Asked why the government wasn't purchasing the Tomahawk cruise missiles from the US after being given the green light, Mr Marles said they weren't an "immediate term" focus.

He said Australia had become more reliant on its economic connection to the world, which placed the nation at greater risk of economic coercion.

"The potential for that coercion, going forward is much more significant," he said.

"That's where the threat lies and that's why we need to reposture for that."

Mr Marles said Australia would continue to supply Ukraine with military aid.

"We're working really closely with the Ukrainian government about how we can best make a contribution knowing that this is going to be a protracted conflict," he said.