As of Nov 4, 2026. Rebuilt every trading night.
The cheapest defense ETFs
See 15 funds ranked by the annual fee the fund charges. Updated Nov 4, 2026. A fee is one fact, not a verdict. Funds on one theme can hold different companies, and the holdings are on the theme page.
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All 15, lowest first
15 of 15 · click a column to sort| # | Ticker | Fund | Fee ↑ | Net assets | Weight in S&P 500 companies | Total return, 1Y |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GCAD | Gabelli Commercial Aerospace and Defense | 0.10% | $44m | 40.1% | +9.4% |
| 2 | AV | Corgi Aerospace & Commercial Aviation ET | 0.35% | $800,703 | 67.0% | too new |
| 3 | NATO | Themes Transatlantic Defense ETF | 0.35% | $88m | 54.5% | −1.8% |
| 4 | WR | Corgi U.S. War Machine ETF | 0.35% | $932,169 | 68.0% | too new |
| 5 | XAR | State Street SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defens | 0.35% | $5.3bn | 40.1% | −6.6% |
| 6 | XDEF | Xtrackers Europe Defense Technologies ET | 0.35% | $4.3m | 0.0% | too new |
| 7 | ITA | iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF | 0.37% | $12.2bn | 80.8% | +0.8% |
| 8 | DUTY | U.S. Defense ETF | 0.45% | $2.1m | 61.7% | too new |
| 9 | WDAF | WisdomTree Asia Defense Fund | 0.45% | $22m | 0.0% | −16.2% |
| 10 | WDEF | WisdomTree Europe Defense Fund | 0.45% | $88m | 0.0% | −5.6% |
| 11 | WDGF | WisdomTree Global Defense Fund | 0.45% | $5.3m | 34.9% | −2.9% |
| 12 | FOWF | Pacer Solactive Whitney Future of Warfar | 0.49% | $15m | 74.8% | +12.2% |
| 13 | EUAD | Select STOXX Europe Aerospace & Defense | 0.50% | $1.1bn | 0.0% | −8.0% |
| 14 | SHLD | Global X Defense Tech ETF | 0.50% | $6.3bn | 52.8% | −8.5% |
| 15 | IDEF | iShares Defense Industrials and Tech Act | 0.55% | $3.6bn | 40.1% | −5.8% |
The 22 of 22 ETFs in the defense theme that publish an expense ratio, cheapest first. Across the funds listed here the annual fee runs from 0.1% to 0.6%.
The rest of the method
A fee is the one number a fund controls and the one a holder always pays. The list sorts one published number, with no scoring or weighting. Every fund ETFIQ covers in this category is eligible, closed funds included.
Links are sources, not endorsements. A ranking is not a recommendation or an opinion.
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ETFIQ, The cheapest defense ETFs, ranked by the annual fee the fund charges, data as of Nov 4, 2026. https://etfiq.com/rankings/themes-cheapest-defense
ETFIQ. (Nov 4, 2026). The cheapest defense ETFs, ranked by the annual fee the fund charges. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/rankings/themes-cheapest-defense
[The cheapest defense ETFs, ranked by the annual fee the fund charges (ETFIQ, Nov 4, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/rankings/themes-cheapest-defense)
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