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.