LONDON, March 22 (Reuters) - British defence company BAESystems has won a 472 million pound ($671 million)contract from the UK government to continue with work to preparefor the building of eight anti-submarine warships.
Britain confirmed in its defence spending plan last Novemberthat it would buy eight of the Type 26 Global Combat Ships, downfrom the 13 ships that BAE had originally been expecting.
BAE said on Tuesday the 15 month contract would fund furtherdetailed design of the complex vessels and the manufacturing ofkey equipment for the first three ships.
The deal follows a 859 million pound contract BAE won inFebruary 2015 to continue design work on the Type 26.
($1 = 0.7039 pounds) (Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Mark Potter)