I would experiment with the surface EMCON (turn EMCON off if it's on), aircraft loadout, aircraft type (consider MPA, AWACS, unarmed craft in particular), and if all else fails, revert to a simple Transit tactic.
If I remember correctly, most of the time I experienced this sort of AI bug in mission design it was being caused by fighter aircraft trying to VID or engage surface traffic. So the solutions could involve classifying the contacts sooner, or getting the aircraft to just not care.
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