{"url":"https://etfiq.com/themes/defense","section":"themes","title":"Defense ETFs: All 22 Compared by Size & Fees | ETFIQ","description":"Compare all 22 defense ETFs by net assets, fee, one-year return and what they hold, as of Oct 21, 2026. Measured by holdings, not by name.","as_of":"Oct 21, 2026","structured_data":[{"@type":"FAQPage","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"How many defense ETFs are there?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"ETFIQ covers 22 US listed defense ETFs as of Oct 21, 2026. That is every one it can measure from the fund\u2019s own published holdings."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"What is the largest defense ETF?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"ITA, iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF, at $11.9bn in net assets as of Oct 20, 2026, the largest of the 22 defense ETFs with a published size."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"What is the cheapest defense ETF?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"GCAD, Gabelli Commercial Aerospace and Defense ETF, at 0.10% a year by its prospectus filed May 5, 2026, the lowest fee of the 22 defense ETFs that publish one."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Which defense ETF has performed best over the past year?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"FOWF, Pacer Solactive Whitney Future of Warfare ETF, at +10.8% total return over the year to Oct 21, 2026, the highest of the 14 defense ETFs with a full year of trading behind them. Past returns do not predict future ones."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"What do defense ETFs hold?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Funds that hold defence primes, weapons and munitions makers, and military aerospace and electronics suppliers. Between them the 22 defense ETFs ETFIQ can read name 117 companies in their ten largest holdings, by holdings dated May 31, 2026 to Oct 21, 2026, most widely LOCKHEED MARTIN, which is among the ten largest of 13 of them."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Do defense ETFs hold the same companies?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"It depends which two. Across the 45 pairs of the 10 defense ETFs with a full published book, by holdings dated May 31, 2026 to Oct 20, 2026, ITA and PPA hold 71% of their weight in the same companies, WDEF and XAR hold 0%, and the middle pair holds 26%. Two funds sold on one theme are not the same fund."}}]},{"@type":"ItemList","name":"Defense ETFs: All 22 Compared by Size & Fees","numberOfItems":22,"itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"ITA","url":"https://etfiq.com/funds/ita"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"PPA","url":"https://etfiq.com/funds/ppa"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"SHLD","url":"https://etfiq.com/funds/shld"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"XAR","url":"https://etfiq.com/funds/xar"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"name":"IDEF","url":"https://etfiq.com/funds/idef"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":6,"name":"EUAD","url":"https://etfiq.com/funds/euad"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":7,"name":"MISL","url":"https://etfiq.com/funds/misl"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":8,"name":"KDEF","url":"https://etfiq.com/funds/kdef"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":9,"name":"NATO","url":"https://etfiq.com/funds/nato"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":10,"name":"WDEF","url":"https://etfiq.com/funds/wdef"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":11,"name":"GCAD","url":"https://etfiq.com/funds/gcad"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":12,"name":"WAR","url":"https://etfiq.com/funds/war"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":13,"name":"WDAF","url":"https://etfiq.com/funds/wdaf"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":14,"name":"FOWF","url":"https://etfiq.com/funds/fowf"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":15,"name":"ARMY","url":"https://etfiq.com/funds/army"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":16,"name":"TSSD","url":"https://etfiq.com/funds/tssd"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":17,"name":"WDGF","url":"https://etfiq.com/funds/wdgf"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":18,"name":"XDEF","url":"https://etfiq.com/funds/xdef"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":19,"name":"AMMO","url":"https://etfiq.com/funds/ammo"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":20,"name":"DUTY","url":"https://etfiq.com/funds/duty"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":21,"name":"WR","url":"https://etfiq.com/funds/wr"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":22,"name":"AV","url":"https://etfiq.com/funds/av"}]},{"@type":"ItemList","name":"The 10 largest defense ETFs","itemListOrder":"https://schema.org/ItemListOrderDescending","numberOfItems":10,"itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"ITA","url":"https://etfiq.com/funds/ita"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"PPA","url":"https://etfiq.com/funds/ppa"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"SHLD","url":"https://etfiq.com/funds/shld"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"XAR","url":"https://etfiq.com/funds/xar"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"name":"IDEF","url":"https://etfiq.com/funds/idef"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":6,"name":"EUAD","url":"https://etfiq.com/funds/euad"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":7,"name":"MISL","url":"https://etfiq.com/funds/misl"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":8,"name":"KDEF","url":"https://etfiq.com/funds/kdef"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":9,"name":"NATO","url":"https://etfiq.com/funds/nato"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":10,"name":"WDEF","url":"https://etfiq.com/funds/wdef"}]},{"@type":"Dataset","name":"Defense ETFs: all 22 compared","description":"Compare all 22 defense ETFs by net assets, fee, one-year return and what they hold, as of Oct 21, 2026. Measured by holdings, not by name.","url":"https://etfiq.com/themes/defense","dateModified":"2026-10-21","inLanguage":"en","creator":{"@id":"https://etfiq.com/#org"},"publisher":{"@id":"https://etfiq.com/#org"},"license":"https://etfiq.com/license/","isAccessibleForFree":true,"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":"Thematic ETFs","item":"https://etfiq.com/themes/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Defense","item":"https://etfiq.com/themes/defense"}]},{"@type":"WebPage","name":"Defense ETFs: All 22 Compared by Size & Fees","description":"Compare all 22 defense ETFs by net assets, fee, one-year return and what they hold, as of Oct 21, 2026. Measured by holdings, not by name.","url":"https://etfiq.com/themes/defense","dateModified":"2026-10-21","isPartOf":{"@type":"WebSite","name":"ETFIQ","url":"https://etfiq.com"},"speakable":{"@type":"SpeakableSpecification","cssSelector":[".lede",".faq"]},"publisher":{"@id":"https://etfiq.com/#org"}}],"characters":10496,"truncated":false,"content":"ETFIQ / Thematic ETFs / Defense \n \n Data as of Oct 21, 2026 .\n Defense ETFs: all 22 compared\n See every defense ETF by what it holds, not by its name. Funds that hold defence primes, weapons and munitions makers, and military aerospace and electronics suppliers. 22 funds, largest first. Updated Oct 21, 2026. The typical fund carries 41% of its weight in S&P 500 names, the 17th most of the 53 themes with filed books.\n 22 US listed defense ETFs \n $11.9bn The largest, ITA \n 0.10% The cheapest, GCAD \n +10.8% Best one year, FOWF \n\n The short answers\n Least like the S&P 500 EUAD , Select STOXX Europe Aerospace & Defense ETF, 0.0% of its weight in S&P 500 companies. Closest pair ITA and PPA , 71% of their weight in the same companies. What these funds actually own\n Between them the 22 funds' ten largest holdings name 117 companies, of which 28 appear in more than one. LOCKHEED MARTIN is among the ten largest of 13 of them, at an average of 5.4% of the fund.\n Defense ETFs, the companies their ten largest holdings name. Source: each fund's latest SEC filing or its issuer\u2019s own daily holdings file, read by ETFIQ. Company Among the ten largest of Average weight where it is Largest, and in which fund \n LOCKHEED MARTIN LMT 13 of 22 5.4% 8.6% in PPA \n RTX RTX 12 of 22 7.7% 16.9% in ITA \n GENERAL DYNAMICS CORP GD 11 of 22 5.1% 7.9% in FOWF \n L3HARRIS TECHNOLOGIES LHX 10 of 22 3.8% 6.8% in DUTY \n NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP NOC 9 of 22 4.8% 6.6% in DUTY \n BOEING BA 8 of 22 6.5% 8.9% in PPA \n PALANTIR TECHNOLOGIES CLASS A PLTR 7 of 22 5.4% 7.5% in MISL \n GE AEROSPACE GE 5 of 22 11.4% 20.2% in ITA \n TRANSDIGM GROUP TDG 5 of 22 3.8% 4.8% in ITA \n BAE SYSTEMS PLC BA/ 4 of 22 6.5% 10.1% in WDEF \n Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC RR/ 4 of 22 6.1% 8.6% in XDEF \n AIRBUS GROUP AIR 4 of 22 5.4% 8.7% in XDEF \n THALES SA HO 4 of 22 5.0% 10.0% in WDEF \n HOWMET AEROSPACE HWM 4 of 22 4.3% 4.8% in NATO \n RHEINMETALL AG RHM 3 of 22 6.6% 8.6% in WDEF \n \n The 15 most widely held of 117. Each row counts the ten largest holdings of each fund, so a fund missing from a row may still hold that company lower down. Weights are of the funds that name it, not of the theme.\n The 10 largest defense ETFs\n ETFIQ covers 22 defense ETFs. The largest are ITA ( $11.9bn ), PPA ( $7.4bn ) and SHLD ( $6.3bn ); fees run 0.10% to 0.75% , as of Oct 12 to 20, 2026 .\n ITA iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF $11.9bn 0.37% \n PPA Invesco Aerospace & Defense ETF $7.4bn 0.58% \n SHLD Global X Defense Tech ETF $6.3bn 0.50% \n XAR State Street SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defense ETF $5.0bn 0.35% \n IDEF iShares Defense Industrials and Tech Active ETF $3.6bn 0.55% \n EUAD Select STOXX Europe Aerospace & Defense ETF $1.2bn 0.50% \n MISL First Trust Indxx Aerospace & Defense ETF $667m 0.60% \n KDEF PLUS Korea Defense Industry Index ETF $157m 0.65% \n NATO Themes Transatlantic Defense ETF $101m 0.35% \n WDEF WisdomTree Europe Defense Fund $88m 0.45% \n \n Defense ETFs: all 22 compared, as of Oct 21, 2026. Source: ETFIQ. Ticker Fund Issuer Net assets In the S&P 500 Active share Total return 1Y vs its benchmark 1Y Fee \n ITA iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF iShares $11.9bn 80.5% 97.7% \u22123.3% not measured 0.37% \n PPA Invesco Aerospace & Defense ETF Invesco $7.4bn 76.9% 96.4% \u22120.1% \u221216.6 pts vs IVV 0.58% \n SHLD Global X Defense Tech ETF Global X $6.3bn 44.6% 98.7% \u22128.0% not measured 0.50% \n XAR State Street SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defense ETF State Street $5.0bn 39.5% 97.7% \u22128.5% \u221225.0 pts vs VOO 0.35% \n IDEF iShares Defense Industrials and Tech Active ETF iShares $3.6bn 41.7% 92.2% \u22123.9% not measured 0.55% \n EUAD Select STOXX Europe Aerospace & Defense ETF Tuttle $1.2bn 0.0% 100.0% \u22128.4% not measured 0.50% \n MISL First Trust Indxx Aerospace & Defense ETF First Trust $667m 66.1% 97.4% \u22123.8% \u221220.3 pts vs VOO 0.60% \n KDEF PLUS Korea Defense Industry Index ETF PLUS $157m 0.0% 100.0% \u221217.3% not measured 0.65% \n NATO Themes Transatlantic Defense ETF Themes $101m 58.2% 97.6% \u22125.4% \u221221.4 pts vs ACWI 0.35% \n WDEF WisdomTree Europe Defense Fund WisdomTree $88m 0.0% 100.0% \u22129.0% not measured 0.45% \n GCAD Gabelli Commercial Aerospace and Defense ETF Gabelli $44m 40.1% 97.2% +9.4% \u22127.2 pts vs VOO 0.10% \n WAR U.S. Global Technology and Aerospace & Defense ETF U.S. Global $41m 38.1% 92.5% first traded 148 days ago \u00b7 0.60% \n WDAF WisdomTree Asia Defense Fund WisdomTree $22m 0.0% 100.0% \u221210.6% not measured 0.45% \n FOWF Pacer Solactive Whitney Future of Warfare ETF Pacer $14m 74.8% 88.4% +10.8% \u22124.9 pts vs URTH 0.49% \n ARMY Tema International Defense ETF Tema $13m 11.7% 98.4% first traded 204 days ago \u00b7 0.68% \n TSSD Truth Social American Security & Defense ETF Yorkville $7m 71.4% 97.6% first traded 295 days ago \u00b7 0.65% \n WDGF WisdomTree Global Defense Fund WisdomTree $5m 34.9% 98.3% \u22124.5% \u221220.6 pts vs ACWI 0.45% \n XDEF Xtrackers Europe Defense Technologies ETF Xtrackers $4m 0.0% 100.0% first traded 244 days ago \u00b7 0.35% \n AMMO VistaShares Defense Supercycle ETF VistaShares $3m 14.1% 99.1% first traded 97 days ago \u00b7 0.75% \n DUTY U.S. Defense ETF Aura $2m 61.7% 98.1% first traded 196 days ago \u00b7 0.45% \n WR Corgi U.S. War Machine ETF Corgi $976,650 68.8% 96.6% first traded 168 days ago \u00b7 0.35% \n AV Corgi Aerospace & Commercial Aviation ETF Corgi $754,014 66.4% 97.6% first traded 168 days ago \u00b7 0.35% \n \n How much of each pair is the same fund\n The closest pair is ITA and PPA , which hold 71% of their weight in the same companies. The furthest apart is WDEF and XAR at 0%. The middle pair of the 45 is 26%. The grid is the 10 largest of 22 funds.\n Defense ETFs, the share of each pair\u2019s weight held in the same companies. Read across or down; the figure is the same either way. Cells are shaded against the closest pair here, 71%. Source: each fund\u2019s own filed or daily holdings, read by ETFIQ. ITA PPA SHLD XAR IDEF EUAD MISL KDEF NATO WDEF \n ITA \u00b7 71% 29% 54% 36% 0% 67% 0% 63% 0% \n PPA 71% \u00b7 40% 48% 45% 0% 69% 0% 59% 0% \n SHLD 29% 40% \u00b7 28% 38% 0% 40% 8% 35% 28% \n XAR 54% 48% 28% \u00b7 31% 0% 53% 0% 43% 0% \n IDEF 36% 45% 38% 31% \u00b7 13% 43% 4% 46% 18% \n EUAD 0% 0% 0% 0% 13% \u00b7 0% 0% 0% 0% \n MISL 67% 69% 40% 53% 43% 0% \u00b7 0% 57% 0% \n KDEF 0% 0% 8% 0% 4% 0% 0% \u00b7 0% 0% \n NATO 63% 59% 35% 43% 46% 0% 57% 0% \u00b7 26% \n WDEF 0% 0% 28% 0% 18% 0% 0% 0% 26% \u00b7 \n \n Weight overlap adds the smaller of the two weights for every company both funds hold. Funds with a cut-short book are left out, not compared short.\n What each fund holds alone\n Defense ETFs, the largest holding no other fund in the grid holds. Source: ETFIQ. Fund Largest holding it alone has Weight All of its own names \n ITA HEICO HEI 1.0% 1.0% \n PPA Parker-Hannifin Corp PH 3.6% 6.8% \n SHLD BIGBEAR.AI HOLDINGS, INC. 0.4% 0.8% \n IDEF SAAB CLASS B SAAB.B 1.8% 23.4% \n EUAD Leonardo SpA 3.2% 10.4% \n MISL AST SpaceMobile, Inc. ASTS 1.8% 1.8% \n KDEF FIRSTEC COMPANY LTD 4.5% 37.2% \n NATO Honeywell International Inc HON 3.1% 3.9% \n WDEF INDRA SISTEMAS SA IDR 3.0% 11.2% \n \n Questions people ask\n How many defense ETFs are there? ETFIQ covers 22 US listed defense ETFs as of Oct 21, 2026. That is every one it can measure from the fund\u2019s own published holdings. What is the largest defense ETF? ITA , iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF, at $11.9bn in net assets as of Oct 20, 2026, the largest of the 22 defense ETFs with a published size. What is the cheapest defense ETF? GCAD , Gabelli Commercial Aerospace and Defense ETF, at 0.10% a year by its prospectus filed May 5, 2026, the lowest fee of the 22 defense ETFs that publish one. Which defense ETF has performed best over the past year? FOWF , Pacer Solactive Whitney Future of Warfare ETF, at +10.8% total return over the year to Oct 21, 2026, the highest of the 14 defense ETFs with a full year of trading behind them. Past returns do not predict future ones. What do defense ETFs hold? Funds that hold defence primes, weapons and munitions makers, and military aerospace and electronics suppliers. Between them the 22 defense ETFs ETFIQ can read name 117 companies in their ten largest holdings, by holdings dated May 31, 2026 to Oct 21, 2026, most widely LOCKHEED MARTIN, which is among the ten largest of 13 of them. Do defense ETFs hold the same companies? It depends which two. Across the 45 pairs of the 10 defense ETFs with a full published book, by holdings dated May 31, 2026 to Oct 20, 2026, ITA and PPA hold 71% of their weight in the same companies, WDEF and XAR hold 0%, and the middle pair holds 26%. Two funds sold on one theme are not the same fund. What the issuers say about this theme\n The issuers behind these defense funds publish their own work on this theme. These are their pages and words, not ETFIQ\u2019s. A fund company writing about a theme it sells is making a case.\n Issuer material on this theme. Links leave ETFIQ. Source: each issuer\u2019s own site. Issuer What they publish Kind \n iShares iShares Portfolio Insights Their research index \n Invesco Invesco insights Their research index \n Global X Global X Insights, including The Next Big Theme Their research index \n First Trust First Trust Investment Insights Their research index \n Themes Themes ETFs: why transatlantic defense On this theme \n WisdomTree WisdomTree blog Their research index \n Tema Tema ETFs insights Their research index \n \n Where to next\n The largest defense ETFs The cheapest defense ETFs The defense ETFs least like the S&P 500 The defense ETFs that returned most The most concentrated defense ETFs Every thematic ETF Compare two funds The vocabulary State Street Investment Management: Global Market Outlook 2026: Forward with focus Where these figures came from\n Fund holdings from SEC Form N-PORT and from the issuers 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 ETFIQ links to the documents behind every figure; a link is not an endorsement.\n ETFIQ is an independent publisher and makes no recommendations. Standards and sources \n Cite this page. ETFIQ, Defense ETFs: all 22 compared, data as of Oct 21, 2026. https://etfiq.com/themes/defense Free to use with attribution for figures ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms. The underlying files are at Open data .\n Other forms Plain ETFIQ, Defense ETFs: all 22 compared, data as of Oct 21, 2026. https://etfiq.com/themes/defense APA ETFIQ. (Oct 21, 2026). Defense ETFs: all 22 compared. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/themes/defense Markdown [Defense ETFs: all 22 compared (ETFIQ, Oct 21, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/themes/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":"Figures ETFIQ computes are free to use with attribution: ETFIQ (etfiq.com). Issuer data stays under its owner's terms.","citation":"ETFIQ, Defense ETFs: all 22 compared, data as of Oct 21, 2026. https://etfiq.com/themes/defense"}