I have found it to be annoying but not to difficult to kill, if it is alone. With friends, it is much harder. (that is, when you are a lone frigate).
I use a wolf with a graviton and 3 tactical lasers, with optics and range boosts. You get in range of it, then move backwards, keeping the range the same. The key thing is, those salamanders don't seem to be able to deal with ships moving backwards - the missile goes round the back, overshoots and hits your shield. And with the range boosts, you can do this from some distance away, allowing you to kill it with impunity.
However when it has a few friends - even 1-2 other frigates - it makes it much harder. If you are trying to kill the frigates, the missiles are so annoying (especially because the salamanders get you since you're not moving backwards the whole time). If you go for the buffalo, the other frigates may flank you.