Designed to provide broad exposure to the Industrials - Aerospace & Defense segment of the equity market, the iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF (ITA Quick QuoteITA - Free Report) is a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on May 1, 2006.

Retail and institutional investors increasingly turn to passively managed ETFs because they offer low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency; these kind of funds are also excellent vehicles for long term investors.

Sector ETFs also provide investors access to a broad group of companies in particular sectors that offer low risk and diversified exposure. Industrials - Aerospace & Defense is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 1, placing it in top 6%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by Blackrock. It has amassed assets over $14.25 billion, making it one of the largest ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Industrials - Aerospace & Defense segment of the equity market. ITA seeks to match the performance of the Dow Jones U.S. Select Aerospace & Defense Index before fees and expenses.

The Dow Jones U.S. Select Aerospace & Defense Index measures the performance of the aerospace and defense sector of the U.S. equity market.

Costs

Cost is an important factor in selecting the right ETF, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts if all other fundamentals are the same.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.38%, making it one of the cheaper products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.5%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure which minimizes single stock risk, it is still important to look into a fund's holdings before investing. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Industrials sector -- about 99.9% of the portfolio.

Looking at individual holdings, Ge Aerospace (GE) accounts for about 21.35% of total assets, followed by Rtx Corp (RTX) and Boeing (BA).

The top 10 holdings account for about 74.9% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

Year-to-date, the iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF return is roughly 10.18% so far, and it's up approximately 63.86% over the last 12 months (as of 01/13/2026). ITA has traded between $135.31 and $236.55 in this past 52-week period.

The ETF has a beta of 0.79 and standard deviation of 17.73% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 43 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.

Alternatives

iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF carries a Zacks ETF Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Thus, ITA is a sufficient option for those seeking exposure to the Industrials ETFs area of the market. Investors might also want to consider some other ETF options in the space.

Global X Defense Tech ETF (SHLD) tracks GLOBAL X DEFENSE TECH INDEX and the Invesco Aerospace & Defense ETF (PPA) tracks SPADE Defense Index. Global X Defense Tech ETF has $6.22 billion in assets, Invesco Aerospace & Defense ETF has $7.67 billion. SHLD has an expense ratio of 0.5%, and PPA charges 0.58%.

Bottom Line

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