"They want helicopters, and certainly attack helicopters at that, and they want air and missile defense that we're seeing from most of our allies and partners. Those seem to be the capabilities that they want, and the more of that they can get, the more they desire,” McConville said.
On Friday, the United States announced another military aid package for Ukraine worth $820 million that includes two advanced surface-to-air missile systems and four additional counter-artillery radars.
The new military aid package also includes additional ammunition for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) that the US government previously committed to Ukraine.
The total US military assistance to Ukraine since the President Joe Biden assumed office has amounted to $7.6 billion dollars.
At the same time, McConville believes that the conflict in Ukraine has shown that capabilities such as long-range precision artillery fire systems are critical to future military engagements.
"Long-range precision fires are in high demand and we are seeing that that capability is extremely important in any future warfare. Our number one priority in the United States Army is long-range precision fires," McConville said during a media availability when asked about lessons learned from Ukraine in terms of modernization and approach to multi-domain operations. "We’re learning from some of the systems that they’re operating."
Unmanned aerial systems are also extremely important on the contemporary battlefield, McConville said. Aerial systems are used to perform much of the targeting for artillery units, according to McConville.
On February 24, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine after the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk requested help to defend them from intensifying attacks by Ukrainian troops. Russia said twin goals of the special operation are to demilitarize and de-Nazify Ukraine.
The Russian Ministry of Defense has said the operation is solely targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure and the civilian population is not in danger.