Ryan,a retired army major general,said:“There is a strong strand of thinking in the Canberra bureaucracy that thinks the army is something that should really only be used for bushfire recovery and other natural disasters.

“We’re very bad at predicting the next war;we’ve never done that successfully.

“To put all our eggs in the sea and air basket is not just arrogant but extremely reckless.”

Former prime ministerKevin Rudd warned”there is a grave risk that by the late 20s and the early 30s,we could well find ourselves on the cusp of armed conflict” with China over Taiwan in a speech last week.

The government announced on Friday it was pausing the tender process for the LAND 400 Phase 3 Infantry Fighting Vehicle project until the strategic review is complete. With an estimated price tag of $18 billion to $27 billion,it would be the most costly acquisition project in the army’s history.

There has been strong speculation the government will slash its planned order of armoured troop carriers under the project from 450 to 300,freeing up money for other purchases.

A spokeswoman for Marles said:“The Albanese Government is committed to ensuring our Defence Force has the equipment,the capability,the people and the funding it needs to keep Australians safe.”

The spokeswoman said the government would not pre-empt the findings of the review.

Marles said the government would need to make “hard choices” about reconfiguring the military in a speech earlier this month.

Saying he believed the concept of “impactful projection” would be “the cornerstone of future Australian strategic thought”,Marles said:“Our approach must strengthen the lethality,resilience and readiness of the ADF.

“We must ensure we accord adequate priority to high-end military capabilities to do this.

“The ADF must augment its self-reliance to deploy and deliver combat power through impactful materiel and enhanced strike capability – including over longer distances.”

Asked how hardware such as helicopters fit it into a doctrine of impactful projection,Marcus Hellyer,a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute,said:“They don’t really.”

“If we’re talking about firing missiles 1000 to 2000 kilometres away,an attack helicopter doesn’t help you much,” Hellyer said,adding that helicopters had proven extremely vulnerable in Russia’s war with Ukraine.

The Morrison government announced in March it would spend $5.5 billion to acquire 29 new Boeing Apache attack helicopters,with delivery expected in 2025.

It also announced a $3.5 billion purchase of tanks and other armoured vehicles,a controversial decision given some national security experts believe tanks would not be relevant in a potential conflict with China.