U.S. Message to Russia from Romania.
BLITZER: The United States sending a message to Russia, and delivered in the form of highly advanced F-22 Raptor fighter jets. The war planes landed at a strategic Romanian air base near the shores of the Black Sea on Monday. It is close to the Ukraine border where Russia's rapidly building up its own military presence. CNN's Clarissa Ward was on board the refueling plane that traveled with the F-22s. She has more on the signal that Washington is sending.</s>CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These Air Force pilots are preparing for a unique mission. They will be accompanying two U.S. fighter jets to Romania, a NATO ally on the Black Sea. It will be the first time America's fearsome F-22 Raptor has landed there, an opportunity for the U.S. to show it is bolstering NATO defenses on Russia's doorstep. Flying one of the two is squadron commander, Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Lehoski. He explained what makes the F-22 special.</s>LT. COL. DANIEL LEHOSKI, SQUADRON COMMANDER: A combination of stealth, super cruise, increased situational awareness that the aircraft allows us, which all that adds up to a unique asymmetric advantage on the battlefield.</s>WARD (on camera): So basically, you're saying this is the best fighter jet in the world.</s>LEHOSKI: The aircraft is truly incredible and is indeed the best fighter aircraft in the world.</s>WARD (voice-over): The technology is so advanced that Congress has banned their sale overseas. En route to Romania the jets must regularly be refueled. A delicate balancing act we got to see close up. A nozzle called a boom is lowered from the tanker. The jet then moves into place directly below it, and the gas starts pumping. (on camera): Officially, this is a training exercise to move U.S. fighter jets from a fixed base to a forward operating base. But it's the symbolism that is important here. This is intended as a show of force to an increasingly assertive Russia. (voice-over): Earlier this month, Russian jets repeatedly buzzed a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Baltic Sea in maneuvers the U.S. called provocative and aggressive. Since the annexation of Crimea in 2014, Russia has steadily built up its military footprint on the Black Sea, unnerving many NATO allies in the region, as Romanian Air Force chief of staff, Laurian Anastasof, told us.</s>LAURIAN ANASTASOF, ROMANIAN AIR FORCE CHIEF OF STAFF: Increasing air activity, increasing training. This is a thing we are seeing every single day. So we need to get ready for what's going to happen, how to get ready for what's going to be next day.</s>WARD: Like many here, he hopes the U.S. will continue its commitment to its NATO allies, whatever tomorrow may bring.</s>BLITZER: Our senior international correspondent, Clarissa Ward, is joining us live from Constanta, Romania. Clarissa, good report. Thank you. Does Russia have a similar amount of air power at its disposal over there?</s>WARD: Well, Wolf, Russia is projected to spend more than $2 billion by 20 on essentially revamping its Black Sea fleet and it does have some serious weaponry, their most missiles travel nearly 2,000 miles but they don't have anything like the F-22. In fact, really, it is not an exaggeration say nobody in the world does. That's exactly why the U.S. is so protective about this technology. When we were looking at the jets on the ground, even, we weren't allowed to have the cameras out 20 feet of the jets -- Wolf?</s>BLITZER: Will the Kremlin see it as a provocation? Clearly, the U.S. wanted to advertise what it was doing. They invited you aboard and we had this report. So will Russia presumably respond in some way?</s>WARD: Well, it remains to be seen how Russia will respond. But I think it's fair to say they see it as a provocation and the narrative is different than the U.S. They see NATO as the aggressor and bothered them for decades now and interesting to see how they react precisely to this event, if they do at all -- Wolf?</s>BLITZER: You're in Romania right now. That's a key NATO ally. How are the folks there, Romanians, reacting to the latest round of tension between the U.S. and Russia, some aspects of it reminiscent of the Cold War?</s>WARD: Well, it's interesting, Wolf. Talking to people here, there's very real concerns, there are very real concerns, specifically as NATO allies, that they feel vulnerable, that they don't feel perhaps in the past the U.S. has done enough to show the full effect of its force, to stand up against Russia. And they're keenly aware of the fact that Russia is expanding its presence since the annexation of Crimea. We have just seen it grow more and more powerful on the Black Sea. We have seen how audacious the Russians can be. Remember, earlier this month, the U.S. naval destroyer, "USS Donald Cook," in the Baltic Sea, the Russians flying very low over it. Certainly fair to say they're feeling pretty vulnerable -- Wolf?</s>BLITZER: Lots of tension right now. Clarissa Ward, in Romania for us. Clarissa, thank you for your excellent reporting, as always. That's it for me. Thanks very much for watching. I'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern in "The Situation Room." The news continues next right after a quick break.