FOWF vs PPA

FOWFBPacer Solactive Whitney Future of Warfare ETF

PPABInvesco Aerospace & Defense ETF

In short

FOWF Most defense funds are built around the old primes. FOWF tracks the Solactive Whitney Future of Warfare Index, aimed at companies behind emerging defense technology across the U.S. and allied nations.

PPA The original defense ETF. PPA has tracked the SPADE Defense Index since 2005, and its net runs wider than jet engines: homeland security and government space work count too.

Stated mandate

FOWF The Fund seeks capital appreciation by tracking companies that support critical emerging defense technologies in the U.S. and its allied nations.

PPA The Fund seeks exposure to companies involved in US defense, homeland security, and aerospace. It tracks the SPADE Defense Index and normally invests at least 90% of assets in its common stocks.

Why people hold it

• FOWF Points at the next war, not the last one: the index targets companies supporting critical emerging defense technologies, not a broad aerospace-and-defense basket.
• 0.49% a year, right at the middle of the defense-theme pack. No niche premium charged for the narrower mandate.
• The mandate covers the U.S. and its allied nations, so allied suppliers abroad are in scope, not just Pentagon contractors.
• Roughly 100 holdings spread the theme across many names instead of a few giants, and the fund distributes quarterly.

• PPA Launched in October 2005, PPA is the elder statesman of US defense funds, with a track record spanning two decades of shifting Pentagon budgets.invesco.com
• The index reaches past the big primes into homeland security and government space operations, so roughly 60 holdings cover the plumbing of national security, not just airframes.invesco.com
• Weighting is modified market cap, not raw market cap, which trims how much the largest contractors can pull the fund around.invesco.comspadeindex.com
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that pays quarterly and rates as one of the stronger builds in a crowded defense-theme group.

Worth knowing

• FOWF Launched in December 2024, so the track record is short and any read on its risk profile rests on limited history.
• Small and thinly traded next to category heavyweights like ITA and XAR, which can mean wider spreads on larger orders.
• A narrow theme tied to defense budgets and procurement cycles, so it can move very differently from a broad market fund.

• PPA At 0.58% a year, PPA sits above the defense-cohort median of 0.50%, and above XAR (0.35%) and ITA (0.37%).
• It is a non-diversified, single-industry fund, so government budget priorities and contract news move it more than the broad market does.invesco.com
• The index provider decides which companies are systematically important to US defense, so the lineup rests partly on judgment, reviewed on a set schedule.spadeindex.com

Full FOWF profile⁠

Full PPA profile⁠