Palantir Among Key Picks As BlackRock Launches Active Defense Industrials ETF

As geopolitical tensions gel into long-term realities, BlackRock is making battlefield dynamics into an investment theme. The world’s biggest asset manager introduced on Wednesday the iShares Defense Industrials Active ETF IDEF, a new actively managed fund designed for those interested in aligning portfolios with the changing shape of global defense and security.

The fund’s portfolio includes GE Aerospace GE, RTX Corp RTX, and Palantir Technologies PLTR among its top holdings.

Also Read: Amplify, Samsung Launch Natural Gas ETF To Power Up AI-Era Infrastructure Boom

IDEF seeks to do more than a traditional defense play. The ETF combines macroeconomic research with alternative sources of data, such as defense revenue exposure and contract flow, to create a responsive portfolio to rapidly changing global trends.

The actively managed ETF is timed with defense expenditures reaching record levels, $2.7 trillion worldwide in 2024, a 9.4% increase from the previous year and over twice the levels in 2000. Behind the fronts of increasing military budgets is a wider economic realignment: governments are rebalancing national priorities, reshaping supply chains, and sprinting to capture key technologies.

IDEF complements BlackRock’s growing roster of active and thematic ETFs, such as the iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF ITA and iShares Cybersecurity and Tech ETF IHAK. But whereas those are passive index offerings, IDEF adds an active element of judgment and responsiveness, attributes that can be beneficial in a world where uncertainty is on the rise.

At launch, BlackRock isn’t simply reacting defensively as a trend, it’s setting defense as a structural corner of the new economy. And as military strategy becomes increasingly interconnected with technology and supply chain security, the company is taking a bet that defense exposure is no longer only for generals or government budgets, it’s for portfolios as well.

Read Next:

• BYD Outsells Tesla In Europe, But These ETFs Still Back Elon’s EV Empire

Photo: Shutterstock