It's justifiable in-universe though, what with it being basically a vasudanized Nahema. 
Sort of, the plothole with that being it's a Mekhu design, based on a Hammer of Light design, based on a Shivan design(which means Vasudans of at least one faction found Nahemas, or something incredibly similar, all the way back in the Great War, yet as far as the Tech Database is concerned, the Nahema appears to be a brand new design, meaning the PVE/Vasudan half of the GTVA apparently didn't share the intel, for some reason.)
I've got to say the Loki's more impressive than I originally gave it credit for. The only thing the Pegasus is really missing is Kaysers, and the Loki can carry either two pairs of them, or go Kayser/Maxim, and while not infinite, it would take several
minutes of fire for the Maxims to completely drain the Loki's gun power on maximum weapon energy. 1/3 less missiles than the Peg(no second bank), and not as perfectly placed for Tempest usage, but still decent(same compatibility, save TAGs).
While the handling isn't the same, it has a slight edge on the Perseus, and afterburner top speed and general AB performance is identical to the Peg. If you can't readily kill it, or disable/disarm it from safely out of range, you can almost certainly leave it in the dust, and jump out once you're clear. All in a pretty durable(400s/250h), compact, Great War-era(!) package.
If I had to pick a preferred role for 'real', recon-tactical looks pretty attractive, given Lokis are probably a dime-a-dozen in FS2, as opposed to more recent designs which only elite/SOC squadrons/pilots would probably get a shot at.