F-22 Raptor aircraft at joint exercise in Campia Turzii Air Base, for the first time

Two F-22 Raptor aircraft, the newest American fifth-generation, single-seat, twin-engine, all-weather stealth tactical fighter aircraft have arrived, on Monday at the Campia Turzii Air Base of the western Cluj County, along with a KC-135 Stratotanker tanker airplane and roughly 15 crew members, in order to take part in a Romanian-American joint military exercise.

Among the people who greeted the F-22 Raptor aircraft at Campia Turzii Air Base were the ambassador of the United States to Romania, Hans Klemm, the Minister of National Defence, Mihai Fifor, and the chief of General Staff, General Nicolae Ciuca.

I am proud that I can be here today alongside Mr. Fifor and the two F-22 aircraft. It is for the second time when this fighter aircraft is present in South-Eastern Europe, and that has happened in Romania, two years ago. It is a bilateral exercise, which has the purpose of proving to the NATO partners that we can bring in the Eastern area of the transatlantic community the most state of the art war plane in the world, that it can take off from here and that we can ensure the entire necessary structure in this sense. This is about trust, and I repeat, Romania is the only country in this NATO area that hosted these aircraft and it is a sign of trust from the United States towards our strategic partner, Romania, declared Hans Klemm.

The diplomat showed that United States' representatives are pleased, and even "proud" of the progress Romania registered concerning the development of its military capacity, of interoperability, both from the point of view of NATO standards, as well as USA's standards.

It is one of the few NATO countries where 2 percent of the GDP were allocated towards defence, which is in concordance with NATO commitments to equally support the expenses concerning the alliance's defence. The fact that Romania is investing in defence systems which will increase the defence capacity, both the country's, as well as NATO's, the fact that Romania supports the efforts made in Iraq, as opposed to other countries from the alliance, all this contribute to the growth of the United States' trust in this strategic partner, Hans Klemm added.

The F-22 Raptor aircraft are from the 95th Hunting Squadron, Unit 325 Hunting, from the Tyndall Air Base of Florida and arrived in Europe at the beginning of this month, arriving at Campia Turzii from the Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany.

According to the data provided by the Campia Turzii air base, the tanker plane KC-135 Stratotanker comes from Unit 100 of Air Supply from the Base of Royal Air Forces of Mildenhall, UK and offers fueling for displacement in Romania.

In Romania the F-22 fighter planes will fly and will train with American F-15 planes, that are currently temporary stationed in Campia Turzii Air Base, as well as F-16 planes of the Romanian Air Force, which are currently at Borcea Air Base.

One of the two American pilots who arrived at Campia Turzii Air Base at the yoke of a F-22 Raptor, Jekyll Etheridge, declared that this airship is the most powerful airplane in the world and highlighted that the presence of these F-22 airplanes in the European space is a detterence of possible aggressive actions.

The commander of the 54th Hunting Squadron of Fetesti, commander Catalin Miclos, showed that the F-22 airplanes, arrived in Romania, together with American F-15 aircraft and Romanian F-16 airplanes will take part in a joint synchronization exercise, Iron Hand 2018.