What is this ionized gas cloud phenomena you speak of?
If you have ever seen a launch at sunset or night time, after the launch, when the rocket gets high enough, you will see its trail glowing in the ionosphere, plenty of pictures of what that looks like, I’ve seen in on plenty of launches. If this was a missile, you would be able to see it for hundreds of miles in all directions, yet, no reports at all from anyone, anywhere.