Eutelsat has switched this year's planned launch of its W3B telecommunications satellite from a Chinese Long March vehicle to a European Ariane 5 rocket amid concerns about an insufficient supply of the non-U.S. components that would permit the satellite's export to China, Eutelsat and W3B prime contractor Thales Alenia Space said Feb. 18.rnParis-based Eutelsat will instead use China's Long March vehicle to launch the W3C satellite - a nearly identical copy of W3B, also under construction at Thales Alenia Space - in mid-2011, when the parts-related concerns are expected to have eased, the two companies said.rnU.S. technology export rules, known as the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), for the past 10 years have been enforced in such a way as to prohibit U.S.
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