DUTY vs XAR

DUTYCU.S. Defense ETF

XARAState Street SPDR S&P 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.

XAR Most defense funds hand the wheel to a handful of giant primes. XAR spreads its roughly 50 aerospace and defense names close to equal weight, so a mid cap parts maker carries about the same load as a household-name contractor.

Stated mandate

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

XAR The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the total return performance of the S&P Aerospace & Defense Select Industry Index.

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.

• XAR Modified equal weighting keeps any single prime contractor from running the show: large, mid and small cap names carry similar weight in the index.ssga.com
• Costs 0.35% a year, under the 0.50% typical of defense funds and a hair below ITA at 0.37%. Cheap for a targeted industry bet.
• Trading since 2011 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund, it is one of the most established and best-built ways to own the US aerospace and defense industry.
• About 50 US-listed aerospace and defense stocks pulled from the S&P Total Market Index, so suppliers and smaller specialists sit alongside the famous names.ssga.com

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.

• XAR One industry, tied to government budgets and order cycles. Expect bigger swings than a broad market fund.
• Equal weighting leans on smaller suppliers, which cuts both ways: less of the fund rides the megacap primes when those lead.ssga.com
• Distributions land quarterly, but this is an industry growth basket, not an income vehicle.

Full DUTY profile⁠

Full XAR profile⁠