-Caveat Lector- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"> </A> -Cui Bono?- (They were also responsible for designing the last two Mars spacecraft that crashed into the surface of Mars (or so we are told) so I guess they are on a roll. Your Amerikan Tax Dollar$ at work. Have a nice day... Steve U.S. Says Lockheed Broke Rules on Chinese Rockets By Jonathan Wright WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The State Department has charged Lockheed Martin Corp. with 30 violations of arms export regulations, some of which could help China improve its rockets, a letter released on Thursday said. A spokesman for the company, which is based in Bethesda, Maryland, disputed the charges, saying its actions, which took place in 1994, were reasonable and consistent with its Department of Commerce license. The company has 30 days to formally respond to the charges, which could lead to a fine of $15 million and restrictions on arms export licenses for three years. The allegations were similar to those lodged in 1998 against two other U.S. satellite makers, Hughes Electronics Corp. and Loral Space & Communications, which have been under criminal investigation for possibly passing sensitive data to China. U.S. conservatives hostile to the Chinese government have cited the allegations as evidence that technical cooperation with China is a danger to U.S. national security. In the letter, dated Tuesday and addressed to Lockheed Vice President Richard Kirkland, the State Department's Office of Defense Trade Controls alleged the company sent Asiasat, a Hong Kong-based satellite company, the full version of a report on a Chinese-made component known as a satellite perigee kick motor, including recommendations for improving it. A kick motor fires after launch to send a satellite into its final orbit. The version sent to Asiasat was nearly 50 pages long, while the expurgated version approved for export by the Defense Department was about five pages, it added. It said the full report identified flaws in Chinese testing methods, made recommendations to improve procedures and standards, and identified weaknesses in test instrumentation. The report also violated the terms of Lockheed's export license by making comparisons between the Chinese version of the motor and U.S. versions, the letter said. Lockheed did not tell the Pentagon it had provided 10 full versions to Asiasat until the existence of those reports was recently discovered by the U.S. Customs Service. ``Lockheed Martin Corp. made no effort to retrieve the 10 unexpurgated assessments or seek to learn the ultimate disposition of these assessments,'' the letter said. Lockheed spokesman James Fetig said Asiasat was not a Chinese state company at the time of the alleged violations, saying it was two-thirds owned by a Hong Kong company. Lockheed officials also said the company had a strict confidentiality agreement with Asiasat that prohibited dissemination to firms or government entities in China. ``There is absolutely no evidence that any information that we shared under license from Asiasat ever reached any entity in the PRC (People's Republic of China),'' Fetig said. But the State Department letter said Asiasat's majority shareholder was the China International Trust and Investment Corp., a Chinese state-owned corporation. ``This is a dispute over the interpretation of that license. U.S. national security was not harmed,'' Fetig said. ``This is an administrative and not a criminal proceeding and the alleged violations are administrative in nature and not criminal,'' the spokesman said. State Department spokesman James Rubin, quoted in the Washington Post, said, ``In our view, any assistance to China that enhances its capabilities in space launch has the potential to be applied to missile development.'' Export control officials decided to take action ``based on the facts and the gravity of the charges,'' Rubin said. The letter, summarizing the events of 1994, said that after the Chinese- made kick motors failed many times in tests Lockheed offered to help the manufacturer, China Great Wall Industries Company, evaluate them. Lockheed sent U.S. specialists to visit the rocket motor factory in the Chinese town of Hohhot in August 1994 for a test firing and discussions with the rocket company. It violated its license by failing to give the U.S. government notice of the visit 30 days in advance and by failing to ensure a Pentagon monitor was present, the letter said. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Steve Wingate California Director SKYWATCH INTERNATIONAL Anomalous Images and UFO Files http://www.anomalous-images.com <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soap-boxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. 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