A Fire Scout and a Littoral Combat Ship are both making a showing for the first time in an annual war game in South Korea. The “Key Resolve/Foal Eagle” exercises began March 2 and will continue through April 24. The exercises involve thousands of U.S. troops working alongside a massive mobilization of their South Korean counterparts on land, at sea and in the air. They are among the largest and longest-standing maneuvers conducted each year by the U.S. and its allies. According to AP, the North has taken special umbrage this year at the participation of the USS Fort Worth (LCS 3), one of two LCS designs intended to fight in areas closer to shore than larger ships can enter and to counter attacks by swarms of smaller vessels, which is believed to be one of the strong points of North Korea’s far less sophisticated navy. The Fort Worth deployed to South Korea and to northeast Asia for the first time to participate in the maneuvers. In another first, it’s carrying the MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned helicopter. (Source: AP via U-T San Diego, 03/14/15) Fire Scouts are built in part in Moss Point, Miss., and a variant of the LCS is built in Mobile, Ala., by Austal USA.