It has come to light that before an F-22 Raptor stealth fighter shot down the balloon with an AIM-9X Sidewinder missile off the coast of South Carolina , a key American asset was monitoring it.The U.S. Air Force’s U-2S Dragon Lady spy planes were among the assets tapped to monitor and collect intelligence on a Chinese surveillance balloon.As per reports, two U-2S Dragon Lady using the callsigns Dragon 01 and Dragon 99 were pressed into action.Viewers may note, that as per public disclosure, the Dragon Lady is the only aircraft in U.S. military inventory can fly persistently at altitudes greater than at which the balloon was flying, which was about 65,000 feet.In this video Defense Updates analyzes why U-2S Dragon Lady monitored the Chinese balloon ?#defenseupdates #chineseballoon #f32