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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Daniel Hurst Foreign affairs and defence correspondent

Coalition axes $1.3bn armed drone program and redirects funds to cybersecurity

Minister for defence Peter Dutton on a visit to Australian Signals Directorate, 31 March, 2022.
Minister for defence Peter Dutton: the Coalition is redirecting drone funds to its cybersecurity program. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

The Morrison government has axed a $1.3bn program to buy armed drones, redirecting the money towards the “Redspice” cybersecurity package that the Coalition trumpeted as a centrepiece of the defence budget.

As political parties prepare for the possibility of the election campaign formally beginning within days, officials revealed the government was cancelling a project it previously hailed as a “cutting-edge armed remotely-piloted aircraft system”.

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