I consider myself a Star Trek fan, but I don't understand the Starfleet's relationship to the Federation. Is Starfleet the military arm of the entire Federation? Or is it just the Earth's military force, like the US Armed Forces is just one part of NATO's military force?
Why don't we ever see ships built by other races conducting Starfleet operations? In canon we see Vulcan ships and others representing other Federation worlds, but none ever seem part of Starfleet ops.
@kfury I thought there was a deal with, like, Andorrians all like to serve together, so there are mostly Andorrian Starfleet vessels, and Tellurians like to serve together, so they have their own vessels that are also part of Starfleet. The food, atmosphere, temperature and pressure are all comfortable for each group. Individual humans might serve on this or that vessel, but Starfleet ships mostly have people of the same planetary origin on them.
@kfury I think it's been ambiguous and underexplored in the canon. Discovery Season 3 gets at this some in the far future where the Federation and Starfleet meet divergent fates.
@kfury
1. Starfleet is the exploration arm of the UFP. They militarise if the Federation is threatened.
2. Starfleet used to be the military arm of “United Earth” (pre-Federation).
3. There are ships built by the members using their own designs. However, they get approval from Starfleet and are generally non-armed.
They are also allowed to keep their own military defense within their galactic territories and claims.
Science vessels, like the ones from Andoria and Vulcan, can sometimes be seen on-screen. But of course, it depends on the story. But exploration vessels not directly from Starfleet are rarely seen on-screen (though mentioned in books).
4. While they are not part of Starfleet, they are still subject to the Federation and their agreements with Starfleet. Like their armed defense army cannot just travel beyond their agreed routes and galactic boundaries.
In certain cases, cannot even go near another planet within the same system if that other planet is not a member of their local “federation”.
Like in the Andorian system, there is a planet that is not part of the Andorian Alliance. So, in the Federation, there is a representative for the Andorian Alliance, and there is another for that independent planet.
(Aside: The UFP is not exactly a per-planet membership system. Galactic civilizations, with multiple planets and territories, can join as one unit. Imagine the US and UK joining the UN as one unit. Although, the UFP highly prefers per planet membership because when the “United Earth” formed the Federation, the first thing United Earth did was declare independence for Mars, among others. So, they want other galactic civilisations to do the same preferably. -- At least that's how I understood it.)
5. Often than not, we see on-screen (and in novels) how members cry that Starfleet did not send its forces when their homeworlds were under threat; when supposedly they should've their own defense army. It's just assumed by some/many their forces were already outsmarted or defeated, or outdated.
I think another possible restriction is similar to Germany and Japan: limited number of army and military technologies. So that means they really have to rely on Starfleet for serious defense.
At least that's how I understood things.
To add, I think another factor why the Federation and Starfleet is Earthling-centric in its Science, R&D, Technology, ship designs, is because Captain Archer (Star Trek Enterprise) really exemplified the neutrality and pacifying nature of Earth when he pushed for the independence of Mars.
Archer want planets to be independent. Instead of galactic empires joining as members, their planets join as members. Of course, as with the Andorian Empire and Vulcan Empire, that never happened. Andoria and Vulcan kept their respective empires and joined as an empire, not as individual planets. In this, the Federation made sure that if a planet within their galactic empire decided to be independent and join as a planet, they should be allowed. Like in the case of that one independent planet within the Andorian system that left the Andorian alliance.
It's close to what happened with Timor-Leste (East Timor). They eventually got their independence from Indonesia, and this year, they might finally get full membership in ASEAN. In fact, Indonesia was the first to pushed for their full membership; and helped them setup things needed (at least from what I've read). Not like the Andorians, LOL. (This Andorian story was explored more in a novel. The live-action wasn't so clear about it.)
So, I think that action by Captain Archer made the founding members trust Earthlings. And well, it was Earthlings who made the Andorians and Vulcans to work together to fight the Klingons, which eventually led to the Federation. [Star Trek Enterprise]
(To the more knowledgeable, correct me if I'm wrong.)