{"url":"https://etfiq.com/rankings/themes-cheapest-defense","section":"rankings","title":"Defense ETFs: 15 Ranked by Fee, Nov 2026 | ETFIQ","description":"15 defense ETFs ranked by fee, as of Nov 4, 2026. GCAD leads at 0.10% a year. AV is second at 0.35% a year. 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GCAD leads at 0.10% a year. AV is second at 0.35% a year. Rebuilt every trading night.","url":"https://etfiq.com/rankings/themes-cheapest-defense","dateModified":"2026-11-04","creator":{"@id":"https://etfiq.com/#org"},"license":"https://etfiq.com/license/","isAccessibleForFree":true,"creditText":"ETFIQ (etfiq.com)","publisher":{"@id":"https://etfiq.com/#org"},"inLanguage":"en","creativeWorkStatus":"Published","distribution":[{"@type":"DataDownload","encodingFormat":"application/json","contentUrl":"https://etfiq.com/data/thematic.json"}],"variableMeasured":["Weight overlap with the S&P 500","Active share","Holdings","Top ten share of the fund","Total return","Fee for the differing part","Expense ratio"],"keywords":["exchange-traded funds","ETF","Thematic ETFs","fund data","SEC filings"]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"ETFIQ","item":"https://etfiq.com/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Rankings","item":"https://etfiq.com/rankings/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"The cheapest defense ETFs","item":"https://etfiq.com/rankings/themes-cheapest-defense"}]},{"@type":"WebPage","name":"Defense ETFs: 15 Ranked by Fee, Nov 2026","description":"15 defense ETFs ranked by fee, as of Nov 4, 2026. GCAD leads at 0.10% a year. AV is second at 0.35% a year. Rebuilt every trading night.","url":"https://etfiq.com/rankings/themes-cheapest-defense","dateModified":"2026-11-04","isPartOf":{"@type":"WebSite","name":"ETFIQ","url":"https://etfiq.com"},"speakable":{"@type":"SpeakableSpecification","cssSelector":[".lede"]},"publisher":{"@id":"https://etfiq.com/#org"}}],"characters":3226,"truncated":false,"content":"ETFIQ / Rankings / The cheapest defense ETFs \n \n As of Nov 4, 2026 . Rebuilt every trading night.\n The cheapest defense ETFs\n 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.\n The cheapest defense ETFs, ranked by the annual fee the fund charges, as of Nov 4, 2026. Source: ETFIQ. # Ticker Fund Fee Net assets Weight in S&P 500 companies Total return, 1Y \n 1 GCAD Gabelli Commercial Aerospace and Defense 0.10% $44m 40.1% +9.4% \n 2 AV Corgi Aerospace & Commercial Aviation ET 0.35% $800,703 67.0% too new \n 3 NATO Themes Transatlantic Defense ETF 0.35% $88m 54.5% \u22121.8% \n 4 WR Corgi U.S. War Machine ETF 0.35% $932,169 68.0% too new \n 5 XAR State Street SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defens 0.35% $5.3bn 40.1% \u22126.6% \n 6 XDEF Xtrackers Europe Defense Technologies ET 0.35% $4.3m 0.0% too new \n 7 ITA iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF 0.37% $12.2bn 80.8% +0.8% \n 8 DUTY U.S. Defense ETF 0.45% $2.1m 61.7% too new \n 9 WDAF WisdomTree Asia Defense Fund 0.45% $22m 0.0% \u221216.2% \n 10 WDEF WisdomTree Europe Defense Fund 0.45% $88m 0.0% \u22125.6% \n 11 WDGF WisdomTree Global Defense Fund 0.45% $5.3m 34.9% \u22122.9% \n 12 FOWF Pacer Solactive Whitney Future of Warfar 0.49% $15m 74.8% +12.2% \n 13 EUAD Select STOXX Europe Aerospace & Defense 0.50% $1.1bn 0.0% \u22128.0% \n 14 SHLD Global X Defense Tech ETF 0.50% $6.3bn 52.8% \u22128.5% \n 15 IDEF iShares Defense Industrials and Tech Act 0.55% $3.6bn 40.1% \u22125.8% \n \n Method\n 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%. 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.\n Where to next\n Every defense ETF and what it holds The largest defense ETFs Sources\n Fund holdings from SEC Form N-PORT and from the issuers\u2019 own daily files SEC EDGAR, full-text search of fund filings SEC Form N-PORT, what a fund filed it holds Rule 19a-1, what a distribution notice must say Links are sources, not endorsements.\n A ranking is not a recommendation or an opinion. ETFIQ is an independent publisher, not an adviser. Standards and sources \n Cite this page. 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 Free to use with attribution for data ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms. The underlying files are at Open data .\n Other forms Plain 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 APA 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 Markdown [The cheapest defense ETFs, ranked by the annual fee the fund charges (ETFIQ, Nov 4, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/rankings/themes-cheapest-defense)","source":"ETFIQ, independent ETF data. Recomputed nightly from public filings and prices.","publisher":{"@id":"https://etfiq.com/#org","name":"ETFIQ","url":"https://etfiq.com"},"license":"https://etfiq.com/license/","license_text":"Data ETFIQ computes is free to use with attribution: ETFIQ (etfiq.com). Issuer data stays under its owner's terms.","citation":"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"}