Breaking Down the West’s $146 Billion 2024 Defence Technology Investment
Advanced technologies like drones, sensors, and even artificial intelligence (AI) are deployed on modern battlefields, leading to many governments seeking to modernize their militaries and spending increasingly large amounts on technology.
So, how much does the West spend on defence technology?
For this, the final graphic in the Defence Innovation series, Visual Capitalist, has partnered with Global X ETFs to discover precisely how much the U.S. and EU spend on defence technologies.
The Need for Advanced Technology
The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and the European Defence Fund (EDF) spend billions annually on acquiring, researching, and developing new technologies.
Below is a table showing the combined total of DoD and EDF defence technology spending by program for 2024.
| Action Area | DoD Investment | EDF Investment | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aviation | $18.4B | $0.16B | $19B |
| Computing and Intelligence | $6.3B | $0.21B | $7B |
| Ground Systems | $3B | $0.14B | $3B |
| Missile Defense | $10.6B | $0.08B | $11B |
| Missiles, Munitions, and Components | $10.9B | $0.03B | $11B |
| Mission Support, Solutions, and Training | $51.3B | $0.13B | $52B |
| Naval and Underwater Systems | $5.7B | $0.26B | $6B |
| Science, Technology, and Others | $17.8B | $0.1B | $18B |
| Space Based Systems | $20.9B | $0.05B | $21B |
| Total | $144.9B | $1.15B | $146B |
While mission support programs remained the highest expenditures, space-based systems and aviation both received huge sums of investment: $18 billion and $19 billion, respectively.
The EDF and DoD invested in similar areas, but each has unique needs. For example, the EDF invested 22% of their overall budget in underwater systems, while the U.S. DoD only invested 4%.
Shielding Investments
Governments worldwide, not just the DoD and EDF, want to use modern technology and update their militaries. The advancement of defence technology and the many conflicts worldwide have led to defence spending rising to $2.5 trillion in 2025.
As the needs of modern militaries are often disconnected from standard economic cycles, investing in defence technology presents investors with a strong diversification opportunity.
The Global X Defence Tech UCITS ETF (ARMR) exposes investors to companies that benefit from adopting or manufacturing defence technologies. The ETF invests in companies across various sectors, including robotics, aircraft, AI, and big data systems.
The 3-part Defence Innovation series explores the landscape of defence spending and the importance of defence technology. Part one covers global defence spending, while part two examines the NATO defence spending changes since the start of the Ukraine-Russia war.
Learn more about the Global X Defence Tech UCITS ETF (ARMR) and the Europe Focused Defence Tech UCITS ETF (EDEF).
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