MIAMI COUNTY, Ind. – Miami County officials are working to get the airstrip at Grissom Air Reserve Base included into the national airport system in the hopes of gaining access to federal dollars to upgrade civilian facilities there. Miami County Commissioners Monday approved a letter supporting the initiative to get Grissom into the national airport system. Jim Tidd, Executive Director of the Miami County Economic Development Authority, which oversees the civilian use of the airstrip, said the county is in the process of applying with the Federal Aviation Administration to include Grissom in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems. The plan identifies nearly 3,400 existing and proposed airports that are significant to national air transportation that are eligible to receive federal grants under the Airport Improvement Program. Tidd said the project has also received written support from Indiana’s U.S. Senators Joe Donnelly and Todd Young, and U.S. Representatives Jackie Walorski and Todd Rokita. The main reason for getting into the national airport system is gaining access to federal dollars that could fund major upgrades to the civilian facilities at the base, which has a joint-use agreement with the Miami County Economic Development Authority to allow civilian planes to land on the airstrip. That funding could come from the FAA’s Military Airport Program, which provides money exclusively to joint-use airports, such as Grissom, or to convert former military airports to civilian use. Grissom is the only joint-use airport in the state, and one of only around 14 in the entire country, which could apply to receive money from the military program. That money could finance projects such as building or rehabilitating hangars, utility systems, access roads, cargo buildings and other airfield projects.