Wg Cdr Sas Duffin started her military career with the Royal Air Force in 2005, after a civilian profession in business management and public relations that spanned 14 years. Starting out her military life as a Personnel Officer, her first tour was at RAF Cottesmore with the Joint Force Harrier as Station Adjutant.
Other military roles have included a previous tour to Germany in 2010, followed by operational tours in Afghanistan and Al Udeid, while staff tours have seen her return to HQ Air Command on several occasions. Her SO2 Command tour was as OC Personnel Management Squadron at RAF Akrotiri, just as the UK MOD moved from Operation HERRICK to SHADER, making it a very busy and challenging post. This was followed by a role leading RAF Media Campaigns in the Directorate of Defence Communications (DDC) in the run up to RAF’s centenary celebrations in 2018. It was while in DDC that working in space operations became a consideration, so a professional branch change to Air & Space Operations (Systems) followed in Jul 2018, with a move to Space Ops Plans & Training within the Battlespace Management Force at HQ Air Command.
Promotion to Wing Commander followed in Feb 2020, alongside selection for Advanced Staff Training. A year at the Defence Academy in Shrivenham saw completion of a Masters in Defence Studies, with a dissertation that focused on the language and narrative of Space, and why it matters. Receiving a distinction for the dissertation, the research drove Duffin to consider further academic work in the form of a PhD. As a result, she was selected as one of the first Chief of the Air Staff Space Fellows, with her period of research starting in Jan 2023. Her research will focus on the contribution of national strategic culture on the creation of alliances and development of norms of behaviour in Space, as well as its potential impact on future national space strategies.
Working in NATO since Oct 2022, Duffin is the Asst Chief of Staff (ACOS) Plans and the Deputy COS for NATO’s Combined Force Space Component Command, based out of Ramstein, Germany. Responsible for the development of Plans, Training and Engagement, she also covers the Space Operations lead in the absence of the COS.
Outside of a military career and becoming a proverbial space geek, Wg Cdr Duffin is a keen traveller and photographer, enjoys learning languages and Nordic skiing, and is often found exploring the world on her Vespa.
Speaking
17September
11:15 / 12:05
Bibliothèque
Session
International Cooperation in a fast Changing Space Domain
