The Pentagon has approved the sale of 220 of the missiles at a cost of $1.3 billion in a deal that will also include technical support.

The sale of the missiles follows the announcement of Australia acquiring multiple nuclear submarines under the US-UK alliance at a cost of up to $368 billion.

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said Australia would be working closely with the US to get more missile capability.

“It’s a really important part of what we need to be doing with our posture, which is to have a greater ability to project,” he told Nine’s Today program on Friday.

“Making sure we have longer-range strike missiles is a really important capability for the country. It enables us to be able to reach out beyond our shores further and that’s ultimately how we are able to keep Australia safe.”

Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy said the missiles were able to be fired from the US Virginia-class submarines Australia would be acquiring under the AUKUS deal.

“We certainly want the best possible capability for the Australian Defence Force so that includes the ability to strike opponents as far away as possible from the Australian mainland,” he told ABC TV.

“The cruise missiles are a critical part of that, as are the submarines that launch them.”

The announcement of the missiles follows criticism from former Labor prime minister Paul Keating about the submarine deal.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said while he had a lot of respect for the senior Labor figure, the submarine deal was the right decision.

“I talk to him about the economy very frequently, sometimes multiple times a week. I talked to him about superannuation and other issues, and I’ll continue to do that,” he told ABC Radio.

“We’ve made the right call here. We’ve made it for the right contemporary reasons. It’s a big investment in our national security, but also in our national economy.”

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton described Keating as a “crazy old uncle” but reiterated support for AUKUS.

“We’ve all been on the end of Paul Keating sprays but it was a special effort this week,” he said.

“It is in our country’s best interests. That’s why we negotiated AUKUS and we will do everything we can to help the government get through the family feud.”

However, former Labor senator Doug Cameron said there had been significant concern on AUKUS expressed by party rank and file members.

He told ABC Radio many had likened the submarine deal to warmongering.

“There’s a concern about the effectiveness of nuclear submarines in coming decades. There’s concern about the capabilities of defence to properly monitor, minimise and contain costs,” he said.

“These are issues that I’m not surprised that there’s concern about and it’s legitimate for these concerns to be raised in a debate to take place.”