The Coalition has vowed to boost spending on air and missile defence capabilities and autonomous weapons systems, as Opposition Leader Susan Ley seeks to redefine the Liberals' defence policy away from her predecessors .

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Ms Ley will use a major speech in Melbourne on Thursday to position immediate funding to fill the nation's air and defence capabilities as a key priority to protect military bases from a "plausible future on the other side of a war in our region".

"The second thing we need is a greater ability to rapidly build, deploy, and resupply unmanned and autonomous weapons

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