My main issue with not being able to loan interceptors isn't from any idea of "EA are superior" or anything like that, but in that once you've learned to shoot down enemy shots, why do you ignore any shots passing close to your ship just because they're not going to hit you yourself? It just feels wrong that escorts would happily let all those shots fly straight past them towards the ship that they're meant to be protecting. What takes the buscuit is that the one race who are thoughtful enough to try and protect their fellow comrades? The Centauri..
I think the way I would probably try to work it is that all escorts would be able to throw out their interceptors to something like 3". To represent that the Centauri maybe are better at it than other races, I would then say that any ship of theirs can throw out their interceptors to 3", whilst their Escorts can throw out their interceptors to 8".