How do I get the AI to launch sats?

[Lord Q'Daan]

I know this is probably a total newb question, but, how do you get the AI to lauch sattellites in Strategic combat? I can't figure it out. I'm in an early game, and I have a frigate scout that can deploy one medium sat. Said sat can waste any equivtech warship that comes close, so the obvious course of action is to approach the enemy to just more than his weapons range, deploy the sat, and run back the way you came. Unfortunately, not only does the AI run away no matter what if you have no weapons, it doesn't seem to launch satellites. Am I doing something wrong or is something which seems fairly simple missing from the AI here?