OP, you have no idea the can of worms you are opening. There was a form of pseudo auto-aim in the very first iteration of Arena Commander, which actually worked pretty well, and which I thought was enjoyable on both mouse and joystick. Then people started calling it "easy mode," complained about the "skill cap" and demanded that lead indicators be introduced rather than the "auto gimbal" mechanic. In the end, the vocal minority won, and lead indicators were added.
Then people didn't like the lead indicators because they drew focus away from the opponent and made it impossible to aim for a specific part of the ship (things proponents of the old "auto-gimbal" mechanic said would happen). People also felt that this gave KBM users a huge advantage since the lead indicators tended to dance around at close range.
So, then the lead indicators were replaced with lag pips, which once again, represented a sort of technological "regression" of sorts. When this (shockingly) didn't help joystick users aim better, the current revision of the ESP engine was introduced, bringing us full circle back to a pseudo-computer-assisted-aiming mechanic.
FWIW, OP - I am with you. I enjoyed the first targeting iteration the most, and what we have now feels like a cobbled together example of "lowest common denominator" intended to shut up everybody, and satisfy nobody. I don't understand why targets can be designated, but the computer isn't smart enough to track and shoot at that target... like, you know... the future. I think too much emphasis has been put on this one particular aiming mechanic by the community, and that ultimately, the idea is (was) to make dog fighting a multifaceted, complex tactical logistics game where the actual process of aiming and firing is maybe only 15%-20% of the entire picture.
FWIW, I think going back to the auto-gimbal mechanic while making systems management and tactics more important would solve many of the "debates" being had about KBM vs stick at the moment. The problem is that the devs have acted already, and it's unlikely that they will revert to the simpler mechanic and upset the delicate equilibrium of concern trolling and white knighting we have at the moment.