drone etf

Drone ETF list for unmanned-systems exposure

A drone ETF list should separate pure drone funds from broad defense funds before comparing fees or holdings.

By Jonathan Teplitsky · reviewed against issuer sources · updated July 30, 2026.

Live drone ETF and defense ETF list

This table lists every live drone-adjacent fund covered on this site. Funds are selected for research value, not paid placement; see the disclaimer for how they're chosen and described. For the fuller research framework behind it, see the drone ETF hub.

Fund	Issuer	Mandate fit
DRNZ	REX Shares	Pure-play drone and UAV exposure.
JEDI	Defiance ETFs	Drone plus modern warfare, AI, cyber, space, robotics, and air mobility.
SHLD	Global X	Defense-tech exposure with industrials, AI, cyber, and drone systems.
ITA	iShares	U.S. aerospace and defense sector exposure.
XAR	State Street	Modified equal-weight U.S. aerospace and defense exposure.
PPA	Invesco	Aerospace, homeland security, and defense exposure.

Table uses issuer pages. Current holdings and fees can change.

What each tier of mandate actually forces the fund to hold

The four tiers in the table differ by how narrowly the index defines eligibility, and that wording is what forces the portfolio. A pure-play drone mandate of the kind the REX Drone ETF factsheet describes has to reach companies whose business is drones and UAV-enabling technology, which means the eligible universe is small and skews toward specialists rather than diversified industrials. For a closer look at weighing that concentration against fees, see the best drone ETF guide.

A modern-warfare mandate like the one behind the Defiance Drone & Modern Warfare ETF adds unmanned ground, surface, and underwater systems, military AI, cyber, space, and advanced air mobility to the eligible list. The fund can then satisfy its own rules while holding relatively little UAV hardware, because the mandate treats drones as one category among several.

A defense-technology mandate such as the one used by the Global X Defense Tech ETF is defined by the character of the technology rather than by platform type, so it can hold software, electronics, and cyber names a hardware-oriented aerospace index would exclude, and it can also hold large incumbents whose defense-technology work is only part of the business.

Broad aerospace and defense mandates such as ITA, XAR, and PPA select on sector classification, not on theme. Nothing in those rules requires any drone exposure at all — unmanned systems arrive only as a byproduct of owning companies that happen to build them alongside aircraft, engines, missiles, and services. The best defense ETF guide walks through how cap-weighting and equal-weighting change that byproduct exposure from fund to fund.

How to read the list

The useful order is mandate, holdings, fee, fund age, and overlap, and that order is deliberate rather than arbitrary. Mandate comes first because it is the only input that constrains what the fund must own in the future; every other figure describes the fund as it exists today and can change at the next rebalance.

Holdings come second as the reality check on the mandate, since marketing language and index rules do not always produce the portfolio a reader expects. Fee comes third because a cost difference is only meaningful once two funds are genuinely comparable — paying less for the wrong exposure is not a saving. Fund age and assets come fourth as a durability screen for closure and spread risk, and overlap comes last because it is a question about your whole portfolio rather than about the fund in isolation. The former UAV ETF's shutdown shows what that closure risk looks like once it actually happens.

Where ETF overlap becomes a problem

ETF overlap becomes a problem when two funds appear different but own many of the same defense-tech names. That can happen when a drone fund and a modern-warfare fund both favor smaller unmanned-system suppliers.

For a cleaner portfolio check, write down the top holdings from each issuer page on the same date. Then mark repeated companies before deciding whether the second fund adds real diversification. If you are also weighing a fund against buying the underlying stocks directly, the drone ETF vs. stocks guide covers that decision separately.

Other Drone-Adjacent Funds and Issuers You May Be Searching For

Two funds newer than this page's core six-fund set are also drone-adjacent and worth naming directly. The WisdomTree Physical AI, Humanoids, and Drones Fund (ticker WDRN) launched on the Cboe BZX Exchange on May 14, 2026, with a 0.45% expense ratio. It targets humanoid robotics, autonomous drones, and physical-AI infrastructure together, so drones are one theme among several rather than the whole fund. The Defiance Drone UCITS ETF (ticker DRON), issued through the HANetf platform, is a separate fund from JEDI. It launched in March 2026 on Xetra and Borsa Italiana, then later added a London Stock Exchange listing. DRON tracks a VettaFi-built pure-play drone index built for European UCITS investors rather than a US brokerage account.

A leveraged drone ETF did exist. Defiance's 2X Daily Long Pure Drone and Aerial Automation ETF (ticker DRNL) launched on March 3, 2026. It sought 200% of the daily return of the BITA Pure Drone and Aerial Automation Index. Tidal Trust II, the fund's sponsor, announced DRNL's closure on August 21, 2026. A 2x daily-reset fund compounds day over day instead of tracking its index over weeks or months. Its return over any longer stretch can diverge meaningfully from twice the index's return, even setting the closure aside. Treat DRNL the way this page treats the old UAV ETF ticker. Investors sometimes still search the name, even though the fund itself stopped trading in August 2026.

Several large issuer names come up in drone ETF searches without those issuers actually running a drone-specific fund. VanEck's lineup includes a robotics fund and the broad Defense UCITS ETF covered on the European defense ETF guide, but no VanEck-branded drone-specific fund currently exists. VanEck's own fund finder is the place to confirm the current list. Invesco's aerospace and defense fund, PPA, is a broad sector fund rather than a drone-themed one, and Invesco has no dedicated drone ETF either. BlackRock's iShares business comes closest with the iShares Space Technologies UCITS ETF (ticker STAR), which tracks a STOXX index spanning space equipment, diversified aerospace, and drones as three sub-themes. There, drones are one slice of a broader space-focused mandate that also covers satellites and rockets. A smaller manager's name shows up the same way. Hood River Capital Management filed for a Hood River Drone Innovators ETF with the SEC in October 2025, then withdrew that filing nine days later without selling a share, so the name still surfaces in searches with nothing tradable behind it.

A standalone counter-drone or anti-drone ETF, as its own ticker, does not currently exist. Counter-UAS exposure instead comes bundled into broader funds. DRNZ's own index language explicitly reaches counter-drone company names alongside combat, surveillance, logistics, and commercial drone makers. JEDI's modern-warfare mandate can hold detection and mitigation companies too. A dedicated China drone ETF is the same story. Broad China-technology funds such as KraneShares' KWEB or Invesco's CQQQ track internet and technology sectors generally. Neither isolates drone manufacturers as its own theme, so neither fund is a China-drone-specific vehicle despite sometimes surfacing in that search.

ETF FAQ

What drone ETF is live now?

The REX Drone ETF is a live drone-focused ETF, while the Defiance Drone & Modern Warfare ETF is a live modern-warfare ETF with drone exposure.

Which drone ETF list item is most pure-play?

The REX Drone ETF is the most pure-play drone reference among the funds listed here based on its issuer-stated drone and UAV mandate.

Why include defense ETFs in a drone ETF list?

Defense ETFs belong in the list because many investors use them as indirect drone exposure, but their mandates are broader.

Are any of these listed funds leveraged or using derivatives?

None of the funds compared on this page are leveraged or inverse products. This site describes DRNZ, JEDI, SHLD, ITA, XAR, and PPA as funds that own company shares directly under an index or mandate. Leveraged and inverse defense-theme funds do exist elsewhere in the ETF market. They behave differently over time, because their returns reset and compound daily instead of tracking an index over months or years. Before buying any fund with 'defense' or 'drone' in the name, check its own stated objective on the issuer page to confirm it is a standard fund like the ones compared here.

Which of these funds is newest and has the least track record?

This list does not rank funds by launch date, because inception dates are not shown in the table above. Check each fund's own issuer factsheet, linked in the sources below, for its exact inception date and current assets under management. Fund age matters: this site's best drone ETF guide explains that smaller, newer thematic funds close more often once assets stay too thin to cover their own costs. The 'how to read the list' guidance above puts fund age fourth in the research order for that reason.

What's the expense ratio for each of these funds?

Exact current expense ratios aren't listed in the table above because they change; check each fund's own issuer page, linked throughout this table, for the live number. As a general pattern, broad market-cap-weighted funds like ITA typically charge less than newer thematic funds such as DRNZ, JEDI, or SHLD, so weigh a higher thematic-fund fee against the mandate precision it buys rather than against zero.

Do any of these funds pay dividends?

Dividend policy is not shown in this table and varies by fund. See the best defense ETF guide for how to check distribution history and current yield on each issuer's own fund page.

Which fund on this list has performed best historically?

This list does not rank funds by past performance, for the same reason it does not list expense ratios inline: several of these funds are new enough that a short return history would be more misleading than useful, and any number published here would be stale by the time it is read. Check current returns for a specific ticker on that fund's own issuer page, or on an independent source such as morningstar.com, and compare funds over the same time period rather than relying on a cached ranking.

Which of these six funds has the lowest fee?

This page does not rank funds by fee because expense ratios change and are not listed here. See the best defense ETF guide for how to compare current expense ratios across these funds using each issuer's own page.

Is DRNZ or JEDI better for a pure drone thesis?

That comparison depends on how much modern-warfare breadth you want alongside drone exposure. See the best drone ETF guide for the pure-play-versus-broad framework.

How do I actually buy one of these ETFs once I've picked it?

The order-placement steps are the same as for any exchange-traded share. See the how to buy drone stocks guide for the walkthrough.

Why does XAR use equal-weighting while the others don't, and does that matter?

It matters more than the ticker suggests: equal weighting changes which companies drive the fund's return even within the same sector. See the best defense ETF guide for the mechanics of how cap-weighted funds like ITA differ from a modified equal-weight fund like XAR.

Is this list of six funds complete, or are there other drone ETFs not shown here?

This table shows the site's tracked set of live drone-adjacent funds, not every drone-themed fund any issuer has ever launched. The list is updated as new relevant funds launch or existing ones close, which is why the liquidated AdvisorShares UAV ETF no longer appears in the table above. The same logic keeps out the Hood River Drone Innovators ETF, a 2025 SEC filing that was withdrawn before any shares sold. See "Other drone-adjacent funds and issuers you may be searching for" above for newer names like WDRN and DRON that sit outside this core set.

Is there a DroneShield ETF?

No. DroneShield is a company, not a fund. It trades as a single stock on the Australian Securities Exchange under the ticker DRO. DroneShield is a counter-UAS specialist. Some of the funds on this page may hold it as one position among many, but a reader cannot buy an ETF under a "DroneShield" name, because none exists. See the DroneShield company profile for how it fits a portfolio as a single stock rather than diversified fund exposure. The counter-drone companies map shows how it compares to other vendors in that space.

Is DJI publicly traded?

No. DJI is a privately held company with no public stock ticker. No drone ETF can hold DJI shares directly, whatever a fund's marketing materials imply about "the drone industry." Some funds on this page may instead hold DJI's suppliers or competitors. Check each fund's current holdings file on the issuer's own page rather than assuming DJI exposure. For publicly traded drone makers this site does cover, see the company profiles linked throughout this page, including DroneShield above.

Where do I find JEDI drone ETF holdings and price?

Defiance's own JEDI product page carries the current holdings list, weights, and net asset value. The ticker JEDI trades on NYSE Arca, so any brokerage or market-data quote for that ticker shows the live price. See the full JEDI ETF guide on this site for the mandate behind those holdings and how concentrated they can get.

Which drone ETF has the most exposure to Ukraine-driven defense demand, and do these funds reliably rise on conflict headlines?

No ETF issuer publishes a Ukraine-exposure metric or revenue percentage, so assessing exposure means reviewing each fund's current top holdings for companies that disclose Ukraine-related defense contracts. Conflict headlines have historically triggered short-term volatility across defense and drone funds, but those price moves do not reliably repeat. Check DRNZ's and JEDI's own factsheets and NAV history to see how each fund traded during prior conflicts.

If a drone ETF like DRNL closes, what happens to my money?

An ETF closure is a cash event: shareholders of record get a cash distribution, not shares in a replacement fund. The manager stops creations and redemptions and sells the remaining portfolio holdings, per the SEC's own investor bulletin on fund liquidation. Both DRNL's closure and the AdvisorShares UAV ETF's 2023 liquidation followed this process.