Rehabilitating the Army’s long-range precision fires and missile defenses is key to circumventing Chinese area-denial weapons in the Pacific, the service’s acting secretary, Ryan McCarthy, said Thursday.

During his Senate hearing for the permanent Army secretary position, McCarthy also explained that the service is looking to add more artillery soldiers to the force in an effort to fill out fires units.

That branch has been severely neglected for nearly two decades, he acknowledged, with many artillerymen serving instead in infantry-type roles in Afghanistan and Iraq.