Intelsat said it postponed deadline to launch Astrium- manufactur...

Intelsat said it postponed deadline to launch Astrium- manufactured APR-3 satellite that still hadn’t received presidential waiver it needed for launch aboard Chinese Long March rockets. Company declined to comment on status of launch, but probably would have statement before end of week, Vp-Corp. Services Tony Trujillo said. Both Intelsat and Eutelsat, which was to launch Alenia Spazio-manufactured Atlantic Bird-1 satellite aboard same rocket, said in May (CD May 4 p5) they were preparing alternative plans in expectation that U.S. would deny permission. Trujillo said no new deadline had been set and declined to comment on whether other launch options were being considered. Astrium spokesman said he thought waiver acquisition was taking longer because of April’s international spy plane incident in which 24 American servicemen and women were held in China for 12 days: “It obviously did not speed up the process… The people at the State Department were in no hurry to give an approval. I don’t think it’s an issue anymore, and the process is coming back on a more normal track.” Spokesman did say discussions were being held in attempt to obtain waiver, but “it would be difficult to get clearance before business on Capitol Hill resumes in September… The summer recess is the real issue.” This marked first time U.S. had faced issue of dealing with its components aboard non-U.S. satellite since export licensing was moved to State Dept. from Commerce Dept. 2 years ago. A recommendation from State Dept. to President is needed to secure proper export licenses. If President agrees to export, he submits plan to Congress for review. None of parties involved would comment on whether State had given recommendation and State declined to comment on any licensing issues. Space analyst said he would be very surprised if license wasn’t issued eventually because U.S. “wouldn’t want to make it more difficult to launch overseas… That would encourage European manufacturers to become more independent in every area of satellite manufacturing.” Analyst also said acquiring license had become more difficult since State Dept. had taken control of satellite exports: “Their priority is not allowing U.S. technology falling into the hands of the Chinese… I can’t imagine what technology on a satellite could be so sensitive that they could be so concerned from a security standpoint. Any one component that was so sensitive -- somebody would have uncovered it.”