Question Layout group not adjusting to preserve aspect/aspect ratio fitter

Here I have 2 images that use 'preserve aspect' and a text element, grouped under a horizontal layout group. I use control child size and force expand so they fill out the entire space.





What I'm trying to achieve:

1. The 2 images that use preserve aspect will close the empty space that was created, and the text (red) fills it up.
2. Still use force expand so the layout group elements always fill up the entire space of the parent. Aka a responsive UI.

I'm aware that preserving aspect doesn't change anything about the rect transform. I could use an aspect ratio fitter on the images, but the layout group still doesn't care about it:







Here I have achieved this effect by removing the aspect ratio fitter and unchecking 'preserve aspect', but instead manually scaled the images rect transforms to keep the aspect. To fill up the space I enabled 'use child scale' on the layout group.

Do I have to write and use a custom script that preserves an images aspect by scaling it? Or is there a simpler solution here?

Thank you!