The sun rises at the end of this hour which would make it 5.58AM. However, at the opening of this season (6am to 7am) it is still dark until 6.25. Sunrise times would not change by 25 minutes in one day.
It turns out that the season was originally planned to start and end at 8am, explaining the daylight. However, the oil platform scene takes place during night/early dawn (leaving an extra hour or two until the end), and it is unknown as to what would've happened in those missing hours.
Destruction of the oil rig supposedly is the only way to make certain the circuit board is destroyed, says the President. However, the oil rig is only ten miles out from the coast, which results in a second option: it is well withing the twelve-mile zone claimed by most states as territorial waters in accord with the 1982 UN convention. US forces are entitled to destroy any foreign warship sneaking into those waters without permission, like the Chinese sub approaching to pick up Philip Bauer.
When the F-18 pilots fired their missiles at the oil rig, the lead pilot said (on the radio), "Fox 1, Fox 2." When fighter crews engage in air combat practice, the pilot calls out "Fox 1" when he fires a radar guided air-to-air missile (or a simulated air-to-air missile) and "Fox 2" when he fires (or simulates firing) a heat-seeking air-to-air missile. In reality, he would not call out both of these in quick succession like this.
When the F-18's are en-route to the oil platform, the left half of the aircraft's navigation display shows it on approach to Athens International Airport in Greece and the right half shows it flying somewhere over South Bend, Indiana.
When Jack's helicopter is approaching the oil platform, the anti-collision lights and strobe are on. This makes the helicopter easily visible. This negates the upwind approach to mask the helicopter's noise. Jack and Bill would have known this and taken the simple precaution of flipping the switch off.