Comments from U.S. Defense Secretary Pete HegsethU.S. will conclude operations under “America First” conditions. Iran was building a shield for nuclear ambitionThis is not an endless war. Iran operation will include casualties.Operation is not directed at Iraq and is not an endless war.U.S. mission in Iran is to destroy Iran’s missiles, navy, and deny Tehran nuclear weapons capability.Conflict is not a regime-change war, although he noted the regime “did change.”We did not start this war, but under Trump we are finishing itIran has long range strike capabilityThe top US general Caine:This is not a single overnight operation.We expect to take additional losses.This is major combat operationsFlow of forces to reaching continuesThe flow of news will be focused on the war over the near term.Of course, you go to war, you use stockpile of defense goods. So there is an economic stimulus to war in the rebuild. Of course there are losers too. Airlines are the first:United airlines -6.59%American Airlines -6.18%Delta Air Lines -5.81%Southwest Airlines -4.19%Hotels are losers as well:Marriot -4.66%Hilton -3.06%Booking Holdings -3.88%Airbnb -3.78%Some defense companies that are beneficiaries:RTX Corp; +6.34%Lockheed Martin +5.15%Northrup Grumman: +4.64%Generarl Dynamic +2.23%Exxon +4.52%Shell +1.58%Chevron +3.56%Barrick Mining +2.21What about the top U.S. Defense ETFs ITA — The industry benchmarkBest for: Large-cap U.S. defense exposureLargest defense ETF (~$15B+ assets) Tracks U.S. aerospace & defense companiesHeavy exposure to prime contractorsTop holdings typically include:Lockheed MartinRTX (Raytheon)Northrop GrummanBoeingGeneral Dynamics✅ Institutional favorite✅ Direct play on Pentagon spending⚠️ More concentrated in mega capsPPA — Balanced exposureBest for: Diversified defense allocationTracks SPADE Defense IndexExpense ratio ~0.58–0.61%Modified weighting reduces dominance of largest firmsWhy investors use itBetter diversification than ITAIncludes suppliers + mid-tier contractors✅ More balanced risk profile✅ Broad defense ecosystem exposureXAR — Equal-weight strategyBest for: Growth & smaller defense namesEqual-weighted holdings (unique structure) Less dependent on a few giantsExpense ratio ~0.35% Strong recent performance (+60% past year cited) ✅ Higher upside in defense cycles⚠️ More volatilitySHLD — Next-generation warfareBest for: Modern defense themesFocus areas:AI warfaredronescybersecurityspace defenseHighlighted as a newer defense-tech focused ETF alongside ITA/XAR/PPA .✅ Exposure to future battlefield tech⚠️ Less traditional contractor exposureDFEN — Trading vehicleBest for: Short-term tactical trades3× leveraged defense ETFDesigned for daily trading, not long-term holding⚠️ High risk / decay effects This article was written by Greg Michalowski at investinglive.com.