mod_rewrite - add middle tier directory - php

Question

Pages are currently available at the following addresses:
http://www.domain.co.uk/solutions/article/page-name1
http://www.domain.co.uk/solutions/article/page-name2
http://www.domain.co.uk/solutions/article/page-name3
etc
..but I would like them to be accessible via the following addresses in order for enhanced SEO:
http://www.domain.co.uk/solutions/page-name1
http://www.domain.co.uk/solutions/page-name2
http://www.domain.co.uk/solutions/page-name3
So, I think I want to use mod_rewrite in the .htaccess file of the site root to add the 'article' directory after the solutions directory on each incoming page request. I have been looking for a suitable answer for about a month and I've tried learning the mod_rewrite basics tutorials but I just can't make this work for me so apologies for another mod_rewrite question.
This is my .htaccess file at present:
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
# Removes index.php
RewriteCond $1 !\.(gif|jpe?g|png)$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php/$1 [L]
# If 404s, "No Input File" or every URL returns the same thing
# make it /index.php?/$1 above (add the question mark)
</IfModule>

Answer 1

I'm doing something similar on a site of mine. Here's the .htaccess rules I'm using to remove index.php and show the shortened url:
RewriteEngine On
# Removes index.php
RewriteCond $1 !\.(css|js|gif|jpe?g|png|ico) [NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php/$1
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/solutions/(.*) [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*) /solutions/article/%1 [L]
Remember that the URL you see in your browser's address bar is not the URL that ExpressionEngine sees - EE sees {segment_2} as "article".

Answer 2

Edit :
Try this :
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^solutions/article/
RewriteRule ^solutions/(.*)$ /solutions/article/$1 [L,QSA]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !\.(gif|jpe?g|png)$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php/$1 [L]
</IfModule>