That is all correct, except that you may not need a visual ID (VID). Depending on the ROE in use, a combination of factors allows to declare (friendly, bogey, bandit, hostile, etc...) the targets. For example, IFF readings, hot heading, high speed, low level outside corridor, being off a pre-planned transition level, using fire control radar... there would a theatre-wide matrix that determines which combination of factors lead to a certain "dec". Moreover, NCTR (also called a "print") allows to determine with certainty which type of aircraft we are facing. In a theatre where those types only belong to the OPFOR, that could be enough to declare. Also, if C2 (AWACS, GCI...) declares a target, it's on them... the crew is perhaps responsible for reporting facts that may disagree with that declaration, and may have the authority to change it. All of this, of course, works for the western world...