Cheapfit, they still pump out more than a thousand (on paper, application depending) dps, 4mish ehp/timer (plus damage cap extending engagement), heavy neuting capabilities, and can tackle, ECM, etc depending on choices, out to several hundred kilometers in some cases. Rigless. Show me a highsec ship capable of doing this. Half my ships are more expensive for quite a lot less overall strength.
You can get more damage output from a ship, but you can’t exactly argue that there’s highsec vessels armed with that kind of damage, on top of 100+100km heavy neuts, 200+km tackle, etc. Even if the Raitarus are the shite end of that scale.