[Ula Jolly]

Aircraft links are never trustworthy. No pilot would fly in the same direction, height and speed at all times when engaging an enemy like your TF. This is rather annoying, or at least the designators are rather annoying when it comes to aircraft.
As for the surface link, was it 30nm off behind/forward of the PLAN relative to their course, or was it to the far left/right?
We could be seeing the effect of that an AI links a contact to which he does not have the range to, but only the bearing. Should such a behaviour be doctrined, there should also be an in-game notification of this. Pressing the link and checking if it has a range of --- might be that kind of notification.

If the bearing to the PLAN link was to the relative left or right, and indeed the cruiser could never have intercepted a signal from there (seeing as the hostile ship was never at that bearing), there might be a doctrined error, which makes for slightly more realism.

As for rockets, I have lots of problems with them. For instance firing an SM-2 against a surface contact: The rocket goes looooow... then it goes lower... until it hits the water, bounces, and has to build up speed and direction again. Very strange. The ESSM SAM seems also to be a little fooked up. Same with the Phoenix AAM. I once saw it (the phoenix) engage the track of a Su-33, but never made it half way due to lots of rolling around and in the end seizing to exist (even though its range was FAR greater than it had traveled).