Australia announced on Thursday a "major restructuring" of its army featuring a new long-range strike capacity. The shake-up responds to a strategic review in July that called for a sharp shift toward long-range deterrence -- using missiles, submarines, and cyber tools.

"This is an important step forward for our army. This builds an army which will be able to project," Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles told reporters in the northeastern city of Townsville.

"This is the basis upon which we will be creating the army we need for Australia's future," Marles said.

According to the defense chief, the restructuring will create specialized combat brigades in three bases: in the northern city of Darwin, a light, easy-to-deploy force; in northeastern Townsville, a force with more heavy armor tanks to "bring to bear the greatest lethality in any conflict;" and in the eastern city of Brisbane, a mixture of both capacities.

Hundreds of personnel will be redeployed over the next five-to-six years, Marles pointed out, describing it as a "major restructuring of the Australian army."

The overhaul also creates a new brigade in the South Australian capital of Adelaide with long-range fire capacity and integrated air and missile defense.

"This will be the cutting edge of army technology," the Minister stressed.

An existing regiment in Adelaide will also be refocused on quickly introducing new technologies and practices into the army, he added.

Describing China's military build-up as the largest and most ambitious of any country since World War II, the July strategic review warned that "the risks of military escalation or miscalculation are rising."

"The rise of the 'missile age' in modern warfare, crystallized by the proliferation of long-range precision strike weapons, has radically reduced Australia's geographic benefits," the review concluded.

Last month, Australia signed a deal to buy powerful long-range weapons from the United States.

The cache of more than 200 Tomahawk cruise missiles -- costing $830 million -- would be some of the "most powerful and technologically advanced" weapons in Australia's arsenal, the country's Defense Ministry said.

The Australian opposition has already slammed the government for the relocation of the military to the north, given the current employment issues, ABC News reported.

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