Italy is actually Air Force, as is Portugal, Spain, Greece, Taiwan, Brazil, Iran...
But enough of the pi$$ing contest - it doesn't matter who operates it as long as we have the expertise and suitable airframe to protect our SSBNs, SLOCs, provide real long range SAR, long endurance MCT, etc, etc, etc... After all we ARE an island nation that depends heavily (almost entirely?) on trade via the sea (both in and out of the country) and have vital maritime assets to protect.
