MIDDLETOWN – Rite-Solutions Inc., an engineering and information technology company, was acquired on Tuesday by Virginia-based aerospace defense contractor Arcfield.
Katerina Figuski, Arcfield chief marketing officer and vice president, declined to disclose the terms of the deal, but she acknowledged that Rite-Solutions co-founder and CEO Joe Marino retired following the sale.
No other staffing changes are planned, Arcfield said.
Rite-Solutions employs 370 people locally, according to Providence Business News' 2025 Book of Lists.
Arcfield, a privately held space science and engineering company, said its acquisition of Rite-Solutions will strengthen its national security capabilities. More specifically, Rite-Solutions' expertise in undersea warfare and naval systems will complement Arcfield's nuclear surety and missile engineering capabilities, Arcfield said.
"As a defense-technology hybrid company, we have been intensely focused from day one on providing our mission partners with a technological edge," said Kevin Kelly, Arcfield CEO and chairman. "We are building an organization uniquely positioned to deliver exceptional national security support spanning every domain – from the depths of the ocean floor to the edges of space – and the acquisition of Rite-Solutions gets us there.”
Based in Middletown, Rite-Solutions is a homegrown company started in 2000 by Marino and Jim Lavoie, who had 20 experience in the technology field when the small company they spent most of their careers working for was sold in 1999, according to a 2004 PBN business profile. They decided to start Rite-Solutions the following year, launching from a small 150-square-foot space on West Main Road in Middletown, which they quickly outgrew.
“We’re not in a sprint to a three-year IPO and hitting the beach. We want to be here to support the growth for a while," Marino said in 2004.
The company's latest success:
On Dec. 12, Rite-Solutions was awarded a share of a $151 billion Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense contract from the Missile Defense Agency.
The 10-year contract is a multiple-award, indefinite delivery and indefinite quantity agreement aimed at developing an advanced, multi-domain defense system capable of detecting, tracking, intercepting and neutralizing threats to the United States and its forces across the air, missile, space, cyber and hybrid domains.
Rite-Solutions will help the Missile Defense Agency achieve its objective of accelerating the delivery of innovative capabilities to the defense system. The scope of work spans four key areas: research and development; engineering and production; operations and support; and analysis and IT devices. This includes early science, disruptive technology, production, sustainment, modernization and facilities work.
"When we created Rite-Solutions, we were determined to create a company founded in a community culture that puts the mission first," Marino said in a statement. "Joining forces with Arcfield will allow us to keep that vision alive while expanding our business beyond our undersea warfare origins. Additionally, their leadership position in model-based systems engineering and artificial intelligence innovation will enable us to deliver a more robust capability set to our existing Navy and federal customers."
(Updated to add that Rite-Solutions Inc. founder and CEO Joe Marino retired after the company's acquisition.)
