This Tuesday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on a Missile Defense Agency effort to replace a missile-tracking support vessel, plus the Office of Strategic Capital issuing a $500 million loan to a rare-earth metals company and more.

The Missile Defense Agency has issued a competitive solicitation seeking industry proposals for a Shipborne Phased Array Instrumentation Radar (SPAIR) to be integrated aboard a replacement instrumentation vessel:

MDA seeks proposals for new ship-based radar to support Pacific flight testing

The Missile Defense Agency has kicked off a radar competition to outfit a new testing support ship, a project backed by more than $300 million in the agency's fiscal year 2027 budget request and tied to supporting Golden Dome for America.

Phoenix Tailings specializes in rare-earth separation and metallization, processes that transform refined rare-earth materials into metals used in permanent magnets and other advanced products:

DOD's Office of Strategic Capital backs rare-earth processor with $500M loan commitment

The Defense Department's Office of Strategic Capital has issued a $500 million conditional loan commitment to rare-earth processor Phoenix Tailings, a move intended to accelerate domestic production of critical materials used throughout the defense industrial base and reduce reliance on foreign supply chains.

On June 11, the Air Force published a request for information seeking vendors capable of delivering a complete receive subsystem for the Homeland Defense Over-the-Horizon Radar (HLD OTHR) program:

AF seeks vendor for Homeland Defense Over-The-Horizon Radar receive subsystem

The Air Force is seeking industry feedback on a critical component of the Homeland Defense Over-the-Horizon Radar program, advancing an effort to provide long-range sensor coverage of potential threats to North America from aircraft, cruise missiles, hypersonic weapons and ships.

Seven companies -- SpaceX, OpenAI, Google, NVIDIA, Reflection, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services -- struck agreements last month with the department to deploy advanced AI capabilities on the Pentagon's classified networks:

DOD shifts two-thirds of classified AI work away from Anthropic

The Defense Department has already transitioned more than two-thirds of its work on classified networks to alternative artificial intelligence providers ahead of a September deadline to phase out technology from AI firm Anthropic, the Pentagon's research and engineering chief said Friday.

In case you missed it, here's our deep dive into the Air Force's next-generation airborne refueling tanker program:

SPECIAL REPORT: Financial pressure pushed Air Force to pull the reins on NGAS

The Air Force's decision to demote the next-generation tanker effort to a subprogram in the fiscal year 2027 budget request is driven by operational analysis and underlying fiscal constraints, several sources told Inside Defense.