Let's be fair here. This is definitely a significant tactical victory for the US. The morale of US military and pro-war group is rising after what seemingly a stalemate war. Also this gives them confidence that Iran's ground troops are not as terrifying as people warned. This is a blow to IRGC internal morale and image. How can they not find a plane crashed inside their own territory for 2 days? This definitely a show of incompetence of Iran's ground forces, which is a bad sign when a ground invasion is looming on the horizon.

But the US, from the political administration to the common Americans, always have a problem of mistaking a tactical victory for a strategic victory. Small wins get overblown is a common occurance from Vietnam War to Iraq War. From logistical perspective, this is a big blow to the US method of war.

This event is the epitome of NATO doctrine (that inherited from Allies doctrine in WW2) of superior firepower over personel lives. It's a heroic sentiment to save lives over equipments, but armed conflict is not that simple. Superior firepower is a very viable doctrine when the war is short and the enemy is significantly weaker like Imperial Japan and the already battered Nazi. But can the US be sure that this war would be over fast?

Logistically, saving a pilot only to lose some planes doesn't make sense, especially if Iran is using cheap method of infrared like analysts says. This could happen again in the future, because the real problem of Iran's anti-AA that downed the F15E is still not resolved. If this happens again, would the US ready to save the pilots again? And ready to sacrifice planes again? Statistically speaking, this could spiraling into a sunken cost black hole. While the US economy is a giant, can it fund similar event like this again and again and again?

Without any ground invasion, Iran will win logistically (and logistics is 80% of the war), for every millions they spend, US Army has to spend dozens to hundreds of times. With ground invasion...Iran seems weak after this event, but their strength was never in symmetrical combat. Any unbiased military analysts says the same thing: Iran will initially lose a ground invasion, but occupation will be hell for the invaders. We will see.