WDEF vs XAR

WDEFCWisdomTree Europe Defense Fund

XARAState Street SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defense ETF

In short

WDEF Most defense ETFs are a bet on US primes. WDEF goes the other way: a passive index of European-listed defense companies, weighted more heavily the more of their revenue actually comes from defense.

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

WDEF The Fund is designed to follow the pre-expense price and yield results of the WisdomTree Europe Defense Index. It uses passive indexing and generally applies representative sampling to pursue that objective.

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

• WDEF Pure European exposure: the index only takes companies domiciled and listed in developed European markets that derive at least 10% of revenue from defense-related activities.wisdomtree.com
• Conviction weighting, not just size: over 50% defense revenue earns a 3x weight multiplier, 25-50% earns 2x. Pure-plays outrank sprawling conglomerates.wisdomtree.com
• Costs 0.45% a year, below the 0.50% median for the defense-theme funds we track.
• Built-in guardrails: $300M minimum free float and $2M median daily dollar volume to qualify, plus per-name weight caps so one runaway winner can't swallow the basket.wisdomtree.comdividend.com

• 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

• WDEF Launched in July 2025, so any read on its risk profile rests on a short live record.
• A smaller fund that trades thinly. Spreads can widen, so limit orders do real work here.
• One theme, foreign-listed shares: currency moves feed into dollar returns, and broad US defense funds like XAR (0.35%) and ITA (0.37%) charge less.wisdomtree.com

• 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 WDEF profile⁠

Full XAR profile⁠