Amazing Coincidence!! Surely the balloon & Red Flag at the same time have no connection.
https://www.ang.af.mil/Media/Article-Display/Article/3275498/red-flag-nellis-23-1-kicks-off/
ublished Jan. 24, 2023
By Senior Airman Cydnie Williams
57th Wing Public Affairs
NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. — The first Red Flag-Nellis exercise of 2023 is underway. Close to 100 aircraft and 3,000 coalition service members have arrived to participate in the large force air combat training exercise centered on readiness and interoperability between joint and allied forces.
fwiw...CNN;
“It is a civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological, purposes. Affected by the Westerlies and with limited self-steering capability, the airship deviated far from its planned course. The Chinese side regrets the unintended entry of the airship into US airspace due to force majeure,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/suspected-chinese-balloon-us/index.html