“We need to make sure that our Defence Force is potent,that it is capable. We need to make Australia a difficult proposition for any adversary,” Marles said in an interview withThe Sydney Morning Herald andThe Age.
“In that context,we need to be a porcupine.”
The term “porcupine” is most frequently used to describe Taiwan and the idea it should be festooned with enough high-grade weaponry to dissuade China from trying to seize control of the autonomous island.
Marles said a key mission of the snap strategic Defence Force review he announced earlier this month was to ensure Australia could project enough lethal force to defend itself against an attack by a would-be aggressor.
As well as the long-range nuclear submarines that will be delivered under the AUKUS pact,he pointed to the possible acquisition of hypersonic missiles that can be fired thousands of kilometres.
Marles was speaking en route to Darwin where he visited Project Pitch Black,a major air force training exercise involving 17 countries including Australia,the US,France,Germany,Japan and Singapore.