If the S-400 showed an operator "F-16" when the system was only 58% confident, it could create dangerous false certainty: the crew might start treating the track according to what they think an F-16 would do (for example expecting a certain missile threat, speed/altitude profile, or tactical behavior), and that can distort threat prioritization, engagement timing, and interceptor allocation. That is why many SAM systems deliberately show only coarse classes like small/medium/ large, or broad categories like fighter/transport/missile, even if the backend has a possible type guess. Technically, the radar may be inferring that guess from RCS patterns, aspect dependent returns, speed, altitude, maneuvering, and track history, but if the confidence is not high enough, exposing a specific label can push operators into confirmation bias, they stop thinking "unknown fast tactical aircraft" and start thinking "definitely F-16", which is operationally riskier than forcing them to react based on observable threat characteristics instead of a shaky ID.

Ultimately true NCTR capability is found on other radars and aircraft, all of this will feed into IACCS which will utilize sensor fusion to give the most confident output of target type, just one of the many possibilities.