Bandit.

This is coolbert:

F-22 American fighter plane to the rescue. Chinese bandit intruder balloon shot down!

But the story continues.

"ANOTHER Chinese spy balloon is spotted: Mystery 'surveillance device' floated over Costa Rica before reaching Venezuela, the Pentagon confirms amid frenzy over airbone spyware in the air over the United States"

From www.dailymail.co.uk the article by RONNY REYES and NATASHA ANDERSON | PUBLISHED: 3 February 2023 | UPDATED: 4 February 2023.

* "Second Chinese spy balloon was spotted over Latin America, officials confirmed" * "Pentagon said it does not appear the balloon is heading into the United States" * "It comes after a different Chinese balloon hovered over Montana and Missouri"

"A second Chinese spy balloon was spotted hovering over Latin America just hours after the Pentagon accused Beijing of using a similar balloon to spy on sensitive military sites in the US."

 Click on image to see an enlarged view. Thanks to the Mail for the graphic.

"Early reports indicated the surveillance craft was flying over Costa Rica, Colombia and Venezuela. Officials say the new balloon does not appear to be heading to America."

Comments:

* F-22 fighter plane shot down the errant balloon and not a F-16.

* Balloon is capable of reaching an altitude of 120,000 feet? Line-of-sight [LoS] at that altitude is ≈ 500 miles [800 km.]. 120,000 feet ≈ 36,000 meters.

* Several things missing from the Mail graphic. Course of balloon as it crossed the continental USA also passing well within LoS distance of additional important military facilities to include Whiteman AFB and King's Bay naval submarine base.

* And as for the second off-course balloon South America? What do we make of that?

Debris from the instrument package if recovered will be of intense interest to USA military planners? 

coolbert.