According to OP, the J-16's radar has trouble distinguishing naval clutter from targets, thus requiring a forward-observer to mark & spot the target before the J-16 can engage it with guided weapons.
If this is true, Shenyang needs a massive purge of its leadership and of whoever thought it would be okay to screw with the backbone of the PLAAF's strike fighter fleet.
First, Shenyang is not responsible for the fighter's radar.
Second, fighter radar will always have problems distinguishing all echoes from the ground. Distinguishing non moving targets from another is not a radar's job. Radar distinguishes only between moving and non moving objects through Doppler effect. That's why ground attack aircraft uses FLIR to "see" targets, hence the second crewman and using a FLIR pod, and land attack missiles also use optical and IR recognition as opposed to radar for targeting, with the second crewman controlling the missile.
Third, you do not use your radar to find targets for air defense suppression. You should not use your radar at all, since it gives you away. Instead, SEAD aircraft are passive, they find the target radars via the target radar's own emissions. They use radar warning receivers to locate the enemy radar's position, through the enemy radar's signals. The missiles they fire home in on the target radar's own emissions.
Fourth, radars for naval aviation are different from land based aviation because naval aviation radars take account of surface water scatter effect. The J-16 is not a naval jet. When the time comes for the J-15D/J-17 whatever you want to call it, the fighter radar would have to be modified to account for surface water scatter.
Fifth. Littoral is the most difficult environment for radar due to having numerous radar targets, including rocks on the water, sea bed, all sorts of boats and ships, islands. Even antiship missiles have problems locking in on targets on this environment. Hence whey antiship missiles specializing on the littoral environment is better using FLIR, thermals, and optics.
Sixth. Modern warships are getting stealthier and stealthier. Whatever they cannot cover with stealth, they make it up with ECM. You used to be able to rely on a massive radar reflection to distinguish a ship. Nowadays that is increasingly gone. You distinguish a ship's radar reflection from surface or rock scatter by the fact that the ship's radar reflection will have a Doppler effect. The faster the vessel is going, the better so long its not in a beam or perpendicular direction. Head on is best. You can also find the ship via its own emitted signals from its radars.
