Most plausible explanantion from the fertile mind of Cletus (only because it would make a great scene from a movie like a Bond flik).
USGove was selling shoulder-fired rocketry to a middle-eastern client (IIRC, Arafat was in toen at the time?). To help seal-the-deal, they took advantage of the military exercise of the coast of Jersey whereby the ME client could shoot the rocket at a dummy-target. No one would think twice about an explosion involving an already specified target in war games.
The ME client took advantage of a passenger plane takking off nearby instead of the target on the water.
USGov attempted to resolve the problem by following the “Three S’s”.
With where our national attitude is headed, can an X-Files revival be far off?