By Tim Hepher

PARIS (Reuters) -French companies are fine-tuning plans for stratospheric spy balloons and airships as competition heats up in the no man’s land between the atmosphere and outer space, tipped as the next potential zone of tensions between world powers.

Stratobus, owned by Thales Alenia Space, and Hemeria, a small firm created in 2019 to prevent sensitive technology leaving France during a wider merger, are the latest companies to focus on a belt known as Very High Altitude.

The growing importance of near-space captured global attention in 2023 when the United States shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon. Beijing insisted it served scientific purposes and strayed into U.S. airspace accidentally.

“It’s a space that’s not occupied. We have to be there and if we aren’t, o

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