Brooklyn Navy Yard Evicts Drone Manufacturer After Months of Protests
Though listed as a “fine art and photography” business, Easy Aerial contracts with Customs and Border Protection and the Israeli military, activists long flagged.
The Brooklyn Navy Yard will not renew the lease of a drone manufacturer that contracts with Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Israeli military, and the Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems after more than a year of activists demanding eviction.
The Navy Yard lists Easy Aerial as a “fine art and photography” business, but government records show the company has millions of dollars worth of US Air Force contracts, as well as a contract with CBP for drone operator training. A 2021 YouTube video shows Israeli soldiers using an Easy Aerial drone for military operations.
The Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation, the Mayor-appointed board that governs the industrial campus, declined to renew the company’s lease at a February 11 board meeting. It was the board’s last chance to renew the lease, which activists said they believe expires in April.
Easy Aerial, like all tenants at the Navy Yard, is exempt from property tax and may be eligible for other taxpayer-funded subsidies.
Located on the Brooklyn waterfront, the Navy Yard hosts over 550 businesses, including dozens of artists’ studios and cultural organizations and Pratt’s Fine Arts and Photography MFA studios
Activists organizing under the banner of Demilitarize Brooklyn Navy Yard, who asked to remain anonymous, have been holding protests, leading email-writing and call-in campaigns, and speaking at board meetings for more than a year now.
“Implementing a multiplicity of tactics including direct action, political education, worker outreach, and deep community organizing worked to materially impact the supply chains of imperialism, zionism and fascism,” the group said in a statement on Instagram this weekend.
The group has not yet replied to Hyperallergic’s requests for comment.
In an email to Hyperallergic, Navy Yard spokesperson Claire Holmes attributed the decision to a dispute over tenant behavior.
"BNYDC notified Easy Aerial at the beginning of the year that it would not renew its lease agreement for business reasons related to tenant conduct on campus,” Holmes said. She declined to provide details about the alleged conduct.
New York City Councilmember Lincoln Restler, who represents the district that includes the Navy Yard, said in an interview with Hyperallergic that he’s been in touch with BNY leadership and that public pressure may have played a role in the decision.
“I think that the Navy Yard heard from community leaders, elected officials, and other stakeholders that expressed concern and questioned whether Easy Aerial is a business that’s consistent with the values of the Yard and of our community,” Restler said. “I’m grateful that the Easy Aerial lease is not being renewed.”
Activists took umbrage at Restler announcing the end of the lease on social media.
“Our victory against Easy Aerial is not the result of politicians like Zohran Mamdani and Lincoln Restler,” the Demilitarize Brooklyn Navy Yard Instagram account wrote. “THIS WAS THE PEOPLE DEMANDING, FIGHTING, ORGANIZING, AND USING THEIR POWER.”
Easy Aerial and the Mayor’s Office did not respond to Hyperallergic’s requests for comment.
Activists are also demanding that the Navy Yard evict Crye Precision, a uniform manufacturer that contracts with ICE and militaries around the world. The company said in a lawsuit that its trademark camouflage pattern is used by the Israeli military, but a spokesperson later denied connections to Israel.
“Crye Precision does not sell weapons or drones, nor do we have any contracts with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) or any Israeli manufacturers,” the spokesperson said in a statement to Hyperallergic last year.
Crye Precision’s website for its signature camouflage products lists the Israeli military gear company Agilite as a partner. Agilite’s promotional materials describe its wares as “tools forged on Israeli battlefields.”
Restler told Hyperallergic that he has “real concerns about any business that’s contracting with ICE today,” referring to Crye Precision. “I do think that we should have higher standards for which businesses we lease public space to. I know the Navy Yard is looking at all legal options.”
The February 11 meeting at which Navy Yard leadership declined to renew Easy Aerial’s lease reflected the board’s defensive posture amid protests.
Meetings were previously open to the public and included time for public comment. Now, non-board members are relegated to a separate room with a maximum capacity of 25 to watch the meeting over video call. Public comment is submitted via written statement, and was not read aloud at the most recent meeting.
Navy Yard security and NYPD officers staggered the exit times of the viewers and the board, so board members never had to come in contact with the public. When reporters gathered outside the door in an attempt to ask the board questions, security blocked them from approaching as the board members were shepherded into a van and taken to another location — presumably a location where they wouldn’t face press scrutiny or hear protesters’ chants.
The activists remained down the street from the meeting at the Navy Yard’s food court, where they chanted, handed out literature, and displayed signage accusing board members of complicity in the genocide in Gaza.
“It is our duty to keep our neighbors and immigrant communities safe,” Demilitarize Brooklyn Navy Yard said in its recent statement. “Together we can put an end to these genocide and deportation suppliers.”
