Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC
Lockheed Martin has been accused of violating US export controls by helping China to evaluate problems with a satellite rocket motor in 1994.
The charges are outlined in a letter sent to the manufacturer last week by the US Department of State's Office of Defense Trade Controls. Lockheed Martin faces a maximum $15 million fine and a possible three-year ban on exporting satellite technology.
The US Government is concerned that the assistance provided by Lockheed Martin could be applied to Chinese missile development. This follows cases involving Hughes and Loral which resulted in the US Congress tightening controls on the export of commercial satellite technology.
Lockheed Martin denies violating export rules. Although the letter warns that sanctions may include debarment, the company says a ban on satellite exports was never raised during talks with the State Department, which rejected the firm's offer to settle the case.
The dispute centres on a Chinese-made perigee kick motor used in the Asiasat-2 commercial communications satellite built by Lockheed Martin (then Martin Marietta) for Hong Kong-based Asia Satellite Telecommunications (Asiasat), and launched on a Chinese Long March 2E in 1995.
In 1994, after multiple ground-test failures, the US company offered to evaluate the motor for Asiasat and Long March manufacturer China Great Wall Industries. The State Department says a visit to China by US specialists and the report provided to Asiasat violated export controls.
Lockheed Martin believes the help provided to Asiasat and the Chinese in assessing the kick motor was covered by its original export licence to launch Asiasat-2 on a Long March, granted in 1992.
Source: Flight International