Navigating the European Defence Investment Landscape
An evolving geopolitical landscape — and a retreat from globalisation — have created an opportunity in European defence stocks.
The global geopolitical landscape has transformed in recent years, propelling defence and security considerations to the forefront of sovereign investment and foreign policy, particularly in Europe. The war in Ukraine, tensions from conflict in the Middle East, and a fracturing of global alliances have forced a re-evaluation of Europe’s defence posture and spending commitments in Europe. Military considerations and critical defence spending and investment are now at the forefront of Europe’s political agenda. This renewed emphasis on defence capabilities has driven investor interest in companies positioned to benefit from these structural changes.
A Shifting Security Landscape
In recent years, a series of developments underscore changes in the defence landscape for Europe — creating new urgency around defence preparedness:
- 2022: Russia launches a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II
- 2023: Finland (ratified 4 April 2023) officially becomes the 31st state to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
- 2024: Sweden (ratified 7 March 2024) becomes the 32nd state to join NATO
- 2025: President Trump takes office for the second time. The 47th President of the United States commits to an “America First” agenda and calls for Europe to increase defence spending.
At a time when geopolitical risk is escalating in Europe, United States’ foreign policy appears to be retreating from its long-standing defence commitment to the European continent. The Trump administration’s “America First” agenda has three major pillars that all point toward the need for increased domestic defence investment in Europe.
- NATO Burden-sharing: President Trump called for Europe to assume a larger role in NATO funding in his first term. He is now calling for NATO members to increase their defence spending from 2% to 5% of their GDP.
- Enforcement of Article 5: In March 2025, President Trump announced that the US would not defend NATO allies who fall behind on their financial commitments to the organisation. His threat brings into question the dependability of Article 5 if countries don’t increase their defence spending.
- Strategic Focus on Indo-Pacific: US foreign policy has made a clear shift towards China and, more broadly, to the Indo-Pacific region. This is expected to have a negative impact on Europe in terms of resource availability (e.g., US troops, procurement of military goods) and innovation priorities (e.g., development of tools for naval versus land warfare).
These themes have driven a significant increase in European defence investment. In the past five years, we have seen a consistent rollout of explicit public and private commitments to defence spending.
Figure 1: European Investment in Defence
| European Defence Fund (EDF) Regulation (2021) | This European Union (EU) vehicle has a budget of nearly €7.3B for 2021-2027, with €2.7B allocated for collaborative defence research and €5.3B for collaborative capability development projects that complement national contributions. |
| EU Strategic Compass for Security and Defence (2022) | The Strategic Compass is an ambitious plan of action for strengthening the EU's security and defence policy by 2030, and developing a common forward-looking strategic culture. |
| NATO Innovation Fund (2023) | The NATO Innovation Fund (NIF) was launched as a €1B independent, venture capital fund backed by 24 NATO allies. The NIF aims to invest in companies across a range of sectors, including dual-use technologies. |
| “ReArm Europe” European-Defence Readiness 2030 (2024) | The European Commission’s Readiness 2030 (March 2024) proposed to leverage over €800B in defence spending through national fiscal flexibility, a new €150B loan instrument. It also aims to mobilise private capital. |
| EDF Work Programme 2025 (2025) | The European Commission allocated €1.065B to the EDF for collaborative research and development in the field of defence, supporting the development of critical defence technologies and capabilities in all military domains. |
Source: European Union/European Commission, NATO Innovation Fund. Critical events are based on news clips from Bloomberg Finance, L.P., as of the date indicated. The information contained above is for illustrative purposes only.
Investing in Defence With ETFs
The evolving geopolitical landscape and de-globalisation have created an opportunity in European defence stocks, which has driven an increase in index funds and ETFs offering this thematic exposure. At State Street, our approach is not merely to offer a fund built for the current cyclical environment but an exposure that takes a long-term approach to Europe’s defence transformation. The SPDR S&P Europe Defense Vision UCITS ETF (Acc) provides exposure to leading companies in European defence today. The ETF tracks the S&P Europe Defense Vision Index, which offers diversified exposure to industrial and technology companies across Europe that are actively involved in defence.
SPDR ETFs has partnered with S&P Dow Jones (S&P) to offer an European defence thematic exposure because of its industry-leading S&P Global Business Involvement Screens (BIS), a comprehensive assessment tool of companies’ direct and indirect revenue exposures to specific products and services. S&P uniquely constructs the BIS using a comprehensive network of data resources, including S&P Global Environmental Analytics, media and stakeholder reports, and public and private corporate disclosures from the S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment.
Figure 2: S&P Europe Defense Vision Index Construction
Universe |
S&P Europe Broad Market Index (BMI) (excludes Russia and Turkey) Only Industrials (20), Technology (45), or Communication Services (50) GICS sectors |
| Stock Selection* | Select at least the top 30 stocks based on their percentage of revenue from military contracting: • All core companies (military contracting ≥50% of revenue) are selected • Top 5 defence technology companies are selected If the stock count is <30, the remaining non-core (military contracting ≥1% and <50%) companies in percent of revenue-rank order are selected. |
| Construction | Index weight is based on the product of the security’s float-adjusted market capitalization (FMC) and the exposure score, subject to the following constraints: • 15% maximum (exposure score 1) • 12% maximum (exposure score 0.75) • 8% maximum (exposure score 0.5) • 5% maximum (exposure score 0.25) • Daily capping† Rebalanced semi-annually after the close on the third Friday of April and October. |
| Strategy | S&P Europe Defense Vision Index |
Source: S&P Dow Jones Indices, as of 30 May 2025. *Companies must be covered by S&P Global Business Involvement Screens (BIS) data. Companies non-compliant with UNGC and Media & Stakeholder Analysis (MSA) controversies are also excluded. †Reviewed daily to ensure adherence to the Diversification 20/35 Rule. Any changes are announced after the close of the business day and effective after the close of the next business day. The information contained above is for illustrative purposes only.
SPDR® S&P Europe Defense Vision UCITS ETF (Acc)
Exposure to leading companies in European defence today.
| Listing Date | Ticker | Exchange | Expense Ratio^ | NAV/Trading Currency |
4 June 2025
|
DFSV GY | Deutsche Borse (Xetra) | 0.15%^ | EUR/EUR |
| 5 June 2025 | DEFV LN | London Stock Exchange | 0.15%^ | EUR/USD |
| Summer 2025 | DEFV SE | SIX Swiss Exchange | 0.15%^ | EUR/EUR |
Source: State Street Global Advisors, as of 30 May 2025. ^The TER has been temporarily reduced to 0.15% and will return to 0.30% from 4 June 2026.
Tracking the S&P Europe Defense Vision Index methodology delivers an ETF with exposure to diversified industrial and technology companies across Europe which are actively involved in the manufacturing, assembly, sale, and transportation of both core military weaponry and a broader range of military-related, non-weapon products and services, such as military vehicles, wearable technology, military-grade software and communication systems.
The resulting ETF exposure therefore includes companies involved in advanced technology and manufacturing, in addition to the pure-play defence and traditional industrial manufacturing exposures.
Examples of companies that meet the index criteria include:
- Rheinmetall — a pure-play defence company headquartered in Germany, primarily focused on security and mobility. A leading provider of armoured vehicles (e.g., Leopard 2), weapon systems, ammunition, and air defence. In Q1 2025, they reported an order backlog of €63B.1 It is expanding business into autonomous systems and digital solutions.
- Leonardo — an advanced industrial company headquartered in Italy, specialising in design and development in aerospace, defence, and security. A leading provider of helicopters, aircraft, airborne and space surveillance, land and naval electronics, and cybersecurity. It has been expanding space surveillance satellite systems, including ventures with Telespazio and Thales Alenia.
- Rolls-Royce — an advanced manufacturing company headquartered in the UK, providing power and propulsion systems for a wide range of military aircraft, submarines, and other equipment. It has a long history of designing and manufacturing combat jet engines. It continues to develop advanced nuclear propulsion systems for submarines, securing a landmark £9B contract to support the Royal Navy’s fleet.2
- Hexagon — an advanced technology company headquartered in Sweden, providing digital defence solutions, including threat detection, situational awareness, and battlefield management systems. Its technology includes mapping and three-dimensional modelling, geospatial intelligence, command and control, and navigation. It is expanding in resilient assured positioning solutions, recently agreeing to acquire Septentrio NV.3
Figure 3: Full List of Index Constituents
| Exposure Score | Stock | Industry | Index Weight |
| 1.00 | Rheinmetall (RHM) | Aerospace & Defense | 16.88% |
| 1.00 | BAE (BA/) | Aerospace & Defense | 14.56% |
| 1.00 | SAAB (SAABB) | Aerospace & Defense | 7.43% |
| 1.00 | INVISIO (IVSO) | Aerospace & Defense | 0.64% |
| 0.75 | Leonardo (LDO) | Aerospace & Defense | 11.47% |
| 0.75 | Thales (HO) | Aerospace & Defense | 9.26% |
| 0.75 | Dassault (AM) | Aerospace & Defense | 2.21% |
| 0.75 | Babcock (BAB) | Aerospace & Defense | 2.17% |
| 0.75 | QINETIQ (QQ/) | Aerospace & Defense | 1.12% |
| 0.75 | Chemring (CHG) | Aerospace & Defense | 0.58% |
| 0.75 | MilDef (MILDEF) | Aerospace & Defense | 0.31% |
| 0.50 | Rolls-Royce (RR/) | Aerospace & Defense | 8.25% |
| 0.50 | Kongsberg (KOG) | Aerospace & Defense | 3.57% |
| 0.50 | Melrose (MRO) | Aerospace & Defense | 1.81% |
| 0.50 | HENSOLDT (HAG) | Aerospace & Defense | 1.36% |
| 0.50 | Serco (SRP) | Commercial Services & Supplies | 0.60% |
| 0.50 | Fincantieri (FCT) | Machinery | 0.38% |
| 0.25 | Safran (SAF) | Aerospace & Defense | 5.03% |
| 0.25 | Airbus (AIR) | Aerospace & Defense | 4.73% |
| 0.25 | Hexagon (HEXAB) | Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components | 2.40% |
| 0.25 | MTU (MTX) | Aerospace & Defense | 2.48% |
| 0.25 | Smiths (SMIN) | Industrial Conglomerates | 1.15% |
| 0.25 | Indra (IDR) | IT Services | 0.45% |
| 0.25 | Sopra (SOP) | IT Services | 0.37% |
| 0.25 | SES (SESG) | Media | 0.23% |
| 0.25 | Bodycote (BOY) | Machinery | 0.16% |
| 0.25 | Kitron (KIT) | Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components | 0.12% |
| 0.25 | Kier (KIE) | Construction & Engineering | 0.12% |
| 0.25 | Senior (SNR) | Aerospace & Defense | 0.11% |
| 0.25 | Avio (AVIO) | Aerospace & Defense | 0.05% |
Source: S&P Dow Jones Indices, as of 27 May 2025.
We expect 2025 will continue to be a critical year for investment in defence for the European continent. As geopolitical tensions remain high and the US continues to pursue an America First agenda, European companies have an opportunity to provide the manufacturing and technology demanded by this strategic shift. The defence sector offers compelling opportunities for growth, with EU sovereigns committing to significant investments , and opportunities for private company innovation.4 The SPDR S&P Europe Defense Vision UCITS ETF (Acc) provides exposure to leading companies in European defence today.
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