What Is ITA? iShares US Aerospace & Defense ETF

ITA is the iShares US Aerospace & Defense ETF, a passively-managed fund that tracks the Dow Jones US Select Aerospace & Defense Index. It holds roughly 35 US-listed companies whose primary business is aerospace or defense, and it has been the standard passive vehicle for expressing a defense-spending thesis through a single ticker since its launch in May 2006. Issued by BlackRock, it carries a 0.40% expense ratio, which sits above broad-market and broad-sector funds but is typical for a narrower thematic vehicle.

The fund is cap-weighted, so the largest US defense and aerospace companies by market value carry the most weight. That makes ITA a concentrated bet on the major defense primes and a handful of large aerospace suppliers rather than a broad, evenly-spread slice of the industry. If your interest is exposure to defense modernization and military spending cycles, ITA is the most direct off-the-shelf way to own that idea in one position.

Approximate weights as of early 2026; refresh quarterly from iShares (BlackRock)'s fund page. Each ticker links to its individual stock guide in Walnut.

Because ITA is cap-weighted, a small number of names dominate the fund. As of early 2026 the top holdings are led by RTX (around 17.5%) and Boeing (around 13.5%), followed by Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, and Northrop Grumman, the classic US defense primes. The next tier blends specialty and supplier names such as Axon Enterprise, Howmet Aerospace, TransDigm, L3Harris Technologies, and Huntington Ingalls. See the top-10 table above for current weights.

The defining feature is how top-heavy this is: the five largest holdings account for roughly half the fund, so ITA's behavior is driven far more by the big primes than by the smaller defense and aerospace names further down the list. Note also what ITA does not hold. It is US-listed only, so European primes (BAE Systems, Rheinmetall, Leonardo, Thales) and other international defense exposures sit entirely outside the fund. With around 35 names and an annual index reconstitution, the roster stays fairly stable between rebalances.

All three are US aerospace and defense ETFs, but they weight the same idea differently. ITA (iShares, 0.40%) is cap-weighted and the largest and most top-heavy of the group, with RTX near 17.5% and the top five names around half the fund. XAR (SPDR) takes the opposite approach and roughly equal-weights its holdings, so smaller defense names get far more representation and the big primes get less. PPA (Invesco, 0.55%) holds a broader universe of around 55 names, reaching into some defense-adjacent and government-services companies that ITA's tighter index leaves out.

In short: ITA is the concentrated, prime-driven default, XAR is the equal-weighted tilt toward smaller defense names, and PPA is the broader, more diversified net at a slightly higher cost. The practical consequence is that returns diverge depending on what leads. ITA tends to do better when the large primes lead the sector, while an equal-weighted fund like XAR can pull ahead when smaller defense names run. If you already hold ITA, adding XAR or PPA buys you more breadth than a genuinely different thesis.

ITA's returns are tied closely to the defense-spending cycle and to the fortunes of a few large companies. Because it is cap-weighted toward the primes, the fund tends to move with US and allied defense budgets, major procurement programs, and geopolitical conditions that shape military spending. Its assets have grown substantially in recent years as defense became a more prominent investment theme, and that growth has outpaced broad-market funds over the same window.

What this means in practice is that ITA can behave quite differently from a diversified core. It can run hard when defense sentiment and budgets are rising, and it can lag when spending priorities shift or when the largest primes stumble on company-specific issues, as Boeing's commercial troubles illustrate. The dividend yield is modest (around 0.9%), since the primes pay meaningful dividends but several of the growth-oriented holdings pay little. Judge ITA as a thematic position over a full cycle, not on a single year.

ITA is best understood as a thematic or satellite position rather than a core holding. It expresses one specific idea, US defense and aerospace, and it does so in a concentrated, cap-weighted way. Investors who want to lean into a defense-modernization thesis often size it as a small sleeve alongside a broad market core, so that a single sector view does not dominate the whole portfolio. The exposure is narrow by design, which is the appeal for some and the drawback for others.

Walnut isn't an investment adviser and this isn't a recommendation, but the trade-offs are worth naming plainly. ITA's top five names make up roughly half the fund, so much of its outcome rides on a handful of companies, and the entire thesis depends on government defense budgets staying robust, which are political and can change. It is also US-only and offers no international defense exposure. In conversation, Walnut's AI can show how much ITA overlaps with what you already own and where a defense sleeve might sit as a satellite around your core.

ITA trades on NYSE Arca during US market hours (9:30am to 4:00pm ET) and is available at every major broker, including Robinhood, Fidelity, Schwab, Public, M1, and Webull. It is the most-traded defense ETF, so liquidity is generally ample. Fractional shares are supported at most modern brokers, which lets you size a defense position precisely without committing to a full share.

Walnut doesn't replace your broker, it sits on top of it. Connect any major broker and Walnut adds an AI layer that helps you build baskets around a defense theme alongside ITA, track how that sleeve is doing against your targets, and rebalance when your allocation drifts.

ETFs are passive bundles; thematic baskets in Walnut let you concentrate within them. If you hold ITA as a core position, these are the themes you might layer on as satellites.

There are three common ways to get ITA exposure. Buy shares (or fractional shares) of ITA directly at any major broker that lists it. Hold it as a core position and layer more concentrated ideas on top. Or build it into a thematic basket in Walnut, so ITA sits alongside other holdings that express the same thesis, with target weights you can rebalance toward. ITA trades like a stock during market hours, so you buy it the same way you would any listed share.

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Whether ITA is a good buy depends less on any single call and more on your time horizon and what you already hold: it tracks Dow Jones US Select Aerospace & Defense, so the real question is whether you want that exposure in your mix and at what weight. We walk through valuation, concentration, and what would have to be true for it to outperform from here in is ITA a buy?

ITA is a top-heavy, prime-driven bet on US aerospace and defense, US-listed only and tied closely to defense budgets. It fits as a thematic satellite sized modestly around a diversified core, where XAR is the equal-weighted tilt toward smaller defense names and PPA is the broader, slightly pricier net.

Whether ITA is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, concentration, and what would have to be true for it to outperform from here in is ITA a buy?

ITA yields ~0.9% as of early 2026, paid by passing through the dividends of its underlying holdings. For the payout schedule, history, and how the distributions are taxed, see ITA dividend: yield and schedule.

New to funds like ITA? Start with what an ETF is, then how to buy an ETF, or browse the full guide to ETF investing.