DUTY vs ITA: Grades, Fees and Holdings Compared

U.S. Defense ETF

DUTYCNYSE Arca

iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF

ITAACboe

Overlap

26.7%by weight

Expense ratio

ITA −0.08pt a year

DUTY0.45%ITA0.37%

Avg volume · 30D

ITA 299.8×the volume

DUTY2.49KITA747K

DUTY vs ITA Performance

Jul 31, 2026 – Oct 30, 2026

+9.8%DUTY−12.4%ITA

Expense ratio: DUTY 0.45%; ITA 0.37%, better
Fund size: DUTY $4M; ITA $12.2B
1Y total return: DUTY No data; ITA −2.6%
Yield (12M): DUTY No data; ITA 0.27%
Holdings: DUTY 51; ITA 52
Avg volume (30D): DUTY 2.49K sh; ITA 747K sh, better
NAV per share: DUTY $28.23; ITA $209.66
52W range

ETF.net Grade

Pillar letters and Scores for DUTY, ITA, with each pillar’s weight
Pillar	DUTY	ITA
Cost30% weight	B66	A80Higher
Mission25% weight	Not scored	A76
Risk15% weight	A74Higher	B61
Tradability15% weight	C42	A96Higher
Holdings10% weight	B56Higher	D34
Durability5% weight	D28	A98Higher

Rank among Defense & Aerospace funds

How we build Categories ›

Same Category. DUTY and ITA are both graded against the same 25 Defense & Aerospace funds, so their Grades compare head to head.

Defense & Aerospace⁠

Category · 25 funds

See all 25 ›

ITA ranks 2nd and DUTY 14th of 25 funds in the Defense & Aerospace Category.

Rank 1AXARState Street SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defense ETFScore 78
Rank 2AITAiShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETFScore 74
Rank 3BFLDZTrueShares Patriot Defense ETFScore 62
Rank 14CAVCorgi Aerospace & Commercial Aviation ETFScore 40
Rank 14CDUTYU.S. Defense ETFScore 40
Rank 14CGCADGabelli Commercial Aerospace and Defense ETFScore 40

Our read on each fund

ETF.net Research

DUTYCU.S. Defense ETF

ITAAiShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF

In short

DUTY A pure-play on American defense: DUTY tracks the Solactive U.S. Defense Index, US names only, at a fee under the category median. It launched in 2026, making it the young challenger in a field of entrenched aerospace-and-defense blends.

ITA The 2006 original in aerospace and defense, and still the anchor fund of the category. It follows a market-cap-weighted index of U.S. aircraft, parts and weapons makers, so the big primes carry most of the weight.

Stated mandate

DUTY The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Solactive U.S. Defense Index.

ITA The fund is designed to follow an index of U.S. equity companies focused on aerospace and defense.

Why people hold it

DUTY Charges 0.45%, below the median for defense-themed ETFs. That undercuts PPA and SHLD, though the category's two largest, ITA and XAR, still price lower.
The name is the mandate. It tracks a defense index rather than an aerospace-and-defense blend, which is how the category's biggest funds (ITA, XAR, PPA) are built.
US-only by design, so foreign-listed primes stay out of the basket. Holdings follow a published Solactive index, not a manager's stock picks.

ITA Charges 0.37% a year, below the typical defense-fund fee and a whisker off the cheapest large rival, XAR at 0.35%.
Trading since 2006 and now a multi-billion-dollar, actively traded fund: the long-standing incumbent in U.S. aerospace and defense.
The index weights by market cap but caps any single company's weight, so the biggest primes lead without swallowing the whole portfolio.spglobal.com
One of the strongest builds in a crowded defense peer group, with a plain-vanilla index mandate and quarterly payouts.

Worth knowing

DUTY A 2026 launch means a short record: limited evidence on how closely it tracks its index or how it behaves in a drawdown.
It hasn't built the asset base or daily volume of long-running rivals like ITA and XAR. Thinner trading tends to mean wider spreads between the price you pay and the fund's value.
One theme, one country. The basket moves with defense budgets and contract news, and it has paid no distributions, so this is a price story rather than an income one.

ITA About 50 stocks, cap-weighted: a few primes drive most of the ride. XAR's modified equal weight spreads exposure further down the size ladder.ssga.com
One U.S. industry, running on two engines: government procurement and commercial aircraft demand. Narrower than a broad-market fund by design.ishares.com
Holds a representative sample of the index rather than every constituent, which can leave small gaps versus the benchmark.sec.gov

Full DUTY profile⁠

Full ITA profile⁠

DUTY vs ITA Holdings

How DUTY and ITA differ

Overlap by weight

26.7%

Shared holdings make up 47.6% of DUTY and 26.7% of ITA.

Level by level

Sector4 Sectors0.0%
Holdings21 in both26.7%
Countryby domicile97.7%
Asset classEquity100%

Sector

Sector weights in DUTY and ITA, widest gap first
Sector	More in DUTYMore in ITA	DUTY	ITA
Aerospace & Defense	ITA +99.9 points	0.0%	99.9%
Technology	DUTY +52.9 points	52.9%	0.0%
Industrials	DUTY +47.1 points	47.1%	0.0%
Leisure Products	ITA +0.1 points	0.0%	0.1%

Country, concentration and asset class

Country by domicile

Country weights in DUTY and ITA, widest gap first
Country	More in DUTYMore in ITA	DUTY	ITA
United States	ITA +2.3 points	97.7%	100.0%
Israel	DUTY +2.3 points	2.3%	0.0%
Other countries (2)	DUTY +0.1 points	0.1%	0.0%

Concentration

Weight in the 10 largest Holdings

DUTY59.6%
ITA76.3%

Securities held

DUTY51
ITA50

Asset class

DUTY: Equity
ITA: Equity

Holdings

Only in DUTY30
In both21
Only in ITA29

Only in DUTY

30 securities, 52.4% of DUTY by weight

Palantir Technologies Inc8.58%
Teledyne Technologies Inc4.30%
Zscaler Inc3.92%
Okta Inc3.92%
Leidos Holdings Inc3.63%
Rubrik Inc3.36%
Crowdstrike Holdings Inc3.27%
CACI International Inc3.03%
Palo Alto Networks Inc2.81%
Fortinet Inc2.38%
Akamai Technologies Inc2.32%
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd2.06%
SentinelOne Inc1.42%
Qualys Inc1.36%
Science Applications International Corp1.29%
Parsons Corp1.09%
Netskope Inc1.01%
Tenable Holdings Inc0.97%
C3.ai Inc0.33%
Bigbear.ai Holdings Inc0.25%
First American Government Obligations Fund 12/01/20310.25%
Radware Ltd0.21%
Rapid7 Inc0.19%
BlackSky Technology Inc0.13%
Park Aerospace Corp0.10%
N-able Inc/US0.06%
Telos Corp0.05%
EHang Holdings Ltd0.04%
Gorilla Technology Group Inc0.03%
AIRO Group Holdings Inc0.02%

Only in ITA

29 securities, 73.2% of ITA by weight

Ge Aerospace20.02%
Rtx17.22%
Boeing6.83%
Transdigm Group4.77%
Howmet Aerospace4.01%
Honeywell Aerospace Inc3.75%
Axon Enterprise2.67%
Ati1.73%
Ftai Aviation1.48%
Woodward1.38%
Heico Class A1.38%
Curtiss Wright1.35%
Textron Inc1.13%
Carpenter Technology1.08%
Heico1.01%
Bwx Technologies Inc0.92%
Hexcel0.45%
Standardaero0.40%
Vse Corp0.32%
Aar0.31%
V2X0.19%
Arxis Class A0.19%
Beta Technologies Class A0.18%
Astronics0.16%
Intuitive Machines Inc Class A0.13%
Cadre Holdings0.07%
Sturm Ruger0.05%
Smith Wesson Brands Inc0.05%
Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc Shs C0.03%

Weight gaps

All 21 Holdings in both funds, largest gap first.

Holding weights in DUTY and ITA, widest gap first
Holding	More in DUTYMore in ITA	DUTY	ITA
L3Harris Technologies IncLHX	DUTY +3.80 points	7.77%	3.97%
Lockheed Martin CorpLMT	DUTY +3.00 points	8.69%	5.69%
Northrop Grumman CorpNOC	DUTY +2.77 points	7.83%	5.06%
General Dynamics CorpGD	DUTY +2.68 points	7.63%	4.95%
Huntington Ingalls Industries IncHII	DUTY +1.57 points	2.53%	0.96%
Moog IncMOG.A	DUTY +1.23 points	2.00%	0.77%
Kratos Defense & Security Solutions IncKTOS	DUTY +0.96 points	1.55%	0.59%
Loar Holdings IncLOAR	DUTY +0.79 points	0.96%	0.17%
Rocket Lab CorpRKLB	DUTY +0.66 points	2.97%	2.31%
AeroVironment IncAVAV	DUTY +0.60 points	0.97%	0.37%
Mercury Systems IncMRCY	DUTY +0.61 points	0.94%	0.33%
Karman Holdings IncKRMN	DUTY +0.39 points	0.77%	0.38%
Leonardo DRS IncDRS	DUTY +0.36 points	0.58%	0.22%
Archer Aviation IncACHR	DUTY +0.35 points	0.56%	0.21%
Ducommun IncDCO	DUTY +0.29 points	0.46%	0.17%
Redwire CorpRDW	DUTY +0.25 points	0.41%	0.16%
Firefly Aerospace IncFLY	DUTY +0.22 points	0.35%	0.13%
Voyager Technologies IncVOYG	DUTY +0.17 points	0.28%	0.11%
National Presto Industries IncNPK	DUTY +0.10 points	0.16%	0.06%
Red Cat Holdings IncRCAT	DUTY +0.08 points	0.13%	0.05%
York Space Systems IncYSS	DUTY +0.07 points	0.11%	0.04%

All 52 DUTY holdings⁠All 50 ITA holdings⁠

How we measure overlap

Each holding counts at its smaller weight in the two funds, summed over the full Holdings. Sector, country and asset class use the same rule on each fund’s split. Cash, FX and derivative lines stay out of the counts. Two bond funds get no overlap figure.

DUTY vs ITA Cost

Overpaying DUTY vs ITA

$1,528

On $10,000 over 30 years. 7% growth a year before fees, expense ratio only.

DUTY 0.45%
$9,041
ITA 0.37%
$7,513

Amount$10,000

Years30 years

Cost over time

DUTY 0.45%
ITA 0.37%
Overpaying

Year by year

Year	DUTY	ITA	Overpaying
10	$812	$670	$142
20	$3,128	$2,590	$538
30	$9,041	$7,513	$1,528

Expense ratio

0.45%DUTY
0.37%ITA, cheaper

ITA0.37%DUTY0.45%

0.35%1.11%

Middle half of Defense & Aerospace funds
Median 0.50%

ITA 5th cheapest of 25 funds

DUTY 7th cheapest of 25 funds

DUTY vs ITA Dividends

Last 12 months to Oct 30, 2026

Yield (12M): DUTY No data; ITA 0.27%
Payout (12M): DUTY None; ITA $0.57
Last payment: DUTY No data; ITA $0.25
Ex-dividend: DUTY No data; ITA Sep 15, 2026
Paid on: DUTY No data; ITA Sep 18, 2026
Frequency: DUTY No data; ITA Quarterly

Distribution history

Per share, 2017 to 2026, same scale for both

DUTYAll DUTY payments⁠

No distribution history available.

ITAQuarterly · 39 paymentsAll ITA payments⁠

DUTY vs ITA Risk

Fall from peak · 5 years

This chart needs five years of history for both funds.

Risk facts

VolatilityStd dev, 3 years: DUTY No dataITA 18.5%
Return per unit of riskSharpe ratio, 3 years: DUTY No dataITA 1.06
Worst fallMax drawdown, 5 years: DUTY No dataITA −20.0%
Market sensitivityBeta, 5 years: DUTY 3.47ITA 0.98; Market = 1

DUTY and ITA in the news

All news⁠

News
GE Aerospace raises its 2026 profit forecast again
Oct 20, 2026ITA
News
Navy awards Raytheon an SM-6 contract valued at up to $24.4 billion
Oct 1, 2026ITA
News
Boeing beats Northrop for a Navy fighter development deal of more than $20 billion
Sep 29, 2026ITA
News
Turkish Airlines firms 100 Boeing 737 MAX jets, with deliveries from 2033
Sep 23, 2026ITA
Deep Dive
Defense & Aerospace ETFs nearly doubled in three years. September's losses came from different names
Sep 21, 2026ITA
Deep Dive
ITA fell with Boeing, SHLD rose with Palantir last week
Sep 20, 2026ITA

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DUTY vs ITA

In short

Stated mandate

Why people hold it