Buyers in Europe achieve a brand new technique to entry innovation in safety and orbit with the launch of the house protection ETF ARKX on Borsa Italiana.
ARKX, an lively UCITS ETF on the crossroads of house and protection
ARK Make investments Europe has listed the ARK House & Defence Innovation UCITS ETF (ARKX) on Borsa Italiana, opening a brand new route for buyers within the convergence between superior expertise, safety and the house business. The fund is the primary actively managed UCITS product centered particularly on innovation within the protection and house sectors, with a dynamic strategy centered on rising applied sciences reshaping world energy balances.
“Protection is coming into a brand new period. Synthetic intelligence, robotics and power applied sciences are converging to rework house and safety. The world’s most important militaries are shifting from industrial {hardware} to clever and software-defined methods, cheaper and extra adaptable. This convergence rewrites the prices of protection and transforms deterrence. With ARKX we provide buyers lively publicity to the applied sciences which can be redefining safety within the twenty first century,” commented Cathie Wooden, founder, CEO and Chief Funding Officer of ARK Funding Administration.
Protection and house: how innovation is altering the business
The start line of the brand new ARKX proposal is the unconventional transformation underway within the protection and house business.
Essentially the most superior armed forces are shifting from heavy, industrially conceived methods towards lighter, clever and modular applied sciences based mostly on software program, autonomous robotics, synthetic intelligence and next-generation power methods. Furthermore, house infrastructures are shifting from easy logistical and communication help to changing into central platforms of the information financial system and nationwide safety.
On this context, the defense-space frontier is not compartmentalized. The convergence between AI, robotics and power capabilities allows the event of dual-use methods, options usable in each civilian and navy functions. It’s a profound change that rewrites prices, strategic approaches and deterrence in an period marked by geopolitical competitors and a fast improve in demand for satellite tv for pc infrastructure.
“This fund focuses on innovators, not incumbents. Via lively administration we spend money on scalable applied sciences corresponding to small satellites, autonomous platforms and next-gen power methods that redefine strategic benefit. This displays our perception that innovation is the simplest protection in an period of fast technological change,” stated Rahul Bushan, International Head of Funding Merchandise. That stated, the emphasis stays on disciplined choice reasonably than broad index replication.
ARKX goals to seize exactly these structural developments. The target is to establish the actors main the change, not these following it: firms able to drastically lowering the prices of entry to house, accelerating automated manufacturing and introducing agile operational fashions to help world crucial infrastructure. Not like many conventional aerospace and defence ETFs tied to giant indices, ARKX doesn’t replicate historic benchmarks however applies an lively, high-conviction strategy. This permits the administration staff to make fast, calibrated rotations towards essentially the most promising segments, adapting to the tempo of technological progress, particularly in areas the place synthetic intelligence and navy robotics advance sooner than conventional industrial sectors.
How ARKX invests in innovation and dual-use applied sciences
The administration philosophy behind the ETF is constructed on three most important pillars: innovation, scalability and twin civilian-military utility. Nonetheless, these ideas are utilized with strict elementary evaluation and a spotlight to long-term disruption reasonably than short-term momentum.
ARKX selects firms lively in key areas corresponding to low-cost launch methods, orbital infrastructure, AI-based command and management software program, terrestrial and aerial autonomous platforms, superior communication applied sciences and next-generation power methods. The main focus shifts from business incumbents to a brand new era of firms in a position to exploit algorithms, miniaturization and superior supplies to realize aggressive benefits in each civilian and protection functions.
This technique finds a transparent software within the rising small-satellite market, now important for communications, Earth commentary, cybersecurity and information administration. ARKX identifies this phase as one of many most important facilities of defense-space innovation, backing gamers that develop parts, infrastructure and software program supporting orbital missions. Furthermore, the identical strategy is utilized to autonomous methods corresponding to navy drones, robotic platforms and unmanned naval methods, whose adoption is accelerated by integration with synthetic intelligence.
From a geographic standpoint, the fund adopts world publicity with out express regional constraints, deciding on modern firms within the United States, Europe and main Asian tech hubs. Lively administration allows fast incorporation of latest alternatives in high-growth areas corresponding to electrical propulsion, ultra-light supplies utilized in aerospace and next-generation satellite tv for pc networks devoted to distributed AI. This versatile mandate underpins the fund’s positioning as a protection house innovation car.
UCITS construction, charges and entry for European buyers
For European buyers, ARKX represents a brand new technique to entry a technique that ARK has managed within the U.S. market since 2021, now translated into UCITS format. The ETF carries a complete expense ratio (TER) of 0.75%, aligning with different specialist thematic funds. Furthermore, its Article 8 positioning underneath the SFDR regulation provides a particular component in a protection fund panorama largely dominated by Article 6 merchandise missing superior ESG screening.
This construction is designed to supply European buyers entry to an actively run house and protection technique inside a well-known regulatory framework. The mixture of UCITS guidelines, an accumulation share class and ESG integration goals to make the product appropriate for a broad vary of institutional {and professional} purchasers in search of publicity to innovation linked to safety and orbit.
An ESG framework tailor-made to a defense-space ETF
A central characteristic of ARKX is the combination of sustainability and governance issues into its funding course of. The fund applies a rigorous framework combining SRI exclusions and ESG evaluation based mostly on six proprietary metrics.
Producers of controversial weapons, firms concerned in nuclear applications of non-signatory states to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and corporations deriving greater than 5% of revenues from fossil fuels, tobacco, playing, alcohol and grownup leisure are excluded.
The ETF additionally evaluates governance high quality, controversies and compliance with worldwide requirements such because the UN International Compact and OECD Pointers. As well as, it incorporates into the analysis course of a block devoted to human capital evaluation, labeled “Folks, Administration and Tradition”. This strategy permits buyers to mix publicity to the defense-space sector with ESG standards aligned with European demand, successfully positioning ARKX as an esg protection fund inside a delicate asset class.
“After surpassing $1 billion of property underneath administration in Europe, the launch of ARKX—which embodies the technological convergences between house and protection—was a pure step as we strategy the subsequent section of launches deliberate for 2026.
We’ve many extremely modern merchandise within the pipeline,” concluded Stuart Forbes, Head of ARK Make investments Europe and International Head of Distribution. That stated, ARK alerts that this ETF is just one component of a broader roadmap.
Portfolio construction and prime ten holdings
The ARK House & Defence Innovation UCITS ETF (ARKX), recognized by ISIN IE000AON7ET1, is an accumulation Article 8 ETF underneath SFDR. It was lately amended to incorporate protection firms that produce non-controversial weapons, whereas sustaining its ESG filters. As of 4 December 2025, the fund held 28 shares, with a concentrated prime ten reflecting its high-conviction model.
The highest ten holdings at that date had been: Teradyin 7.98%, L3Harris Applied sciences 7.77%, Kratos Protection 7.59%, Rocket Lab 6.72%, AeroVironment 6.37%, Trimble 4.7%, Deere 4.68%, Palantir 4.28%, Amazon 4.21% and AMD 4.17%. Furthermore, the diversification throughout {hardware}, software program and information gamers illustrates the fund’s emphasis on the total defense-space worth chain.
Outlook for house and protection innovation
Trying forward, ARKX seeks to place itself on the intersection of superior expertise, nationwide safety and orbital infrastructure.
The house protection ETF combines an lively managed etf strategy with UCITS construction and ESG screening, focusing on firms that profit from dual-use applied sciences, automation and the declining price of entry to orbit. In abstract, it provides European buyers an actively managed, thematically centered car to seize long-term developments in house and protection innovation.