preCharge News BUSINESS — Defense stocks have been an outperforming group in 2025, and BlackRock on Wednesday debuted a new way for investors to bet on the sector with the iShares Defense Industrials Active ETF (IDEF).

The new fund does have some strategic overlap with iShares’ U.S. Aerospace and Defense ETF (ITA) and Cybersecurity and Tech ETF (IHAK), but Jay Jacobs, U.S. head of equity ETFs at BlackRock, told preCharge News that clients were asking for this active strategy.

“What we’re hearing from clients as well is that the shape of the defense industry is evolving. … So we really believe is that an active approach to the defense space makes a lot of sense,” Jacobs said.

Differences between IDEF and ITA

One key difference between IDEF and the $7 billion ITA is international exposure. Some of the new fund’s foreign holdings include French aerospace firm Safran and Japanese industrial company Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

“You look at the Asia region, you look at the Middle East, you look at Europe, you’re seeing military spending accelerate in those areas,” Jacobs said, adding that there is no target balance between US and international exposure in IDEF.

The new fund will be run by portfolio managers from BlackRock’s multi-asset strategies & solutions group and has an expense ratio of 0.55%.

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Associated Press, CNBC News, Fox News, and preCharge News contributed to this report.