WALLOPS ISLAND–The Navy this summer will begin touch-and-go practice landings at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia’s Eastern Shore.

The Franklin City Council voted twice in early 2011 not to allow the Navy the use of the Franklin Municipal Airport for the same purpose.

Pilots of the E-2 Hawkeye and C-2 Greyhound aircraft will conduct up to 20,000 passes annually at the site, the Navy announced Thursday. Wallops Flight Facility was selected over the Emporia-Greensville Regional Airport.

Pilots based at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach will practice touch-and-go maneuvers at Wallops before deploying.

Officials said the Navy determined the operations would have no significant environmental impacts.