re: Argentine submarine missing at sea

Only 2 submarines of that class completed 30+ years ago by a now defunct German company. Little to no chance any quality OEM parts available.

Look at the economics of the recent 'Upgrade':

quote:

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The upgrade cost around 100 million pesos ($12.4 million) and comprised more than 500,000 work hours during which the submarine was cut in half and had its four MTU engines and batteries replaced

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It looks like Argentinian minimum wage was roughly $1/hour or so at that time (although hard to pin down exactly). So even if all of that labor was at minimum wage that does not leave much money left for quality parts. $7 million is NOTHING for submarine batteries and 4 diesel engines (and they only have that much money to spend on parts IF all of the labor was done at minimum wage, if some of that labor was at above minimum wage, that's even worse parts).

Wikipedia Article

ETA: Cutting a submarine pressure hull in half and welding it back together is a highly critical skill and requires precision cutting, surface prep, and welding in addition to thorough inspection. A hull failure coming out of a low-budget overhaul is not out of the question.