The belly of the Chinese aircraft, seen in a handful of videos spreading on social media. Photo: Screenshot/via X

Footage showing a previously unseen Chinese warplane scrambled aviation geeks Thursday, with some joking the clips were the perfect Christmas present.

Why it matters: The aircraft emerges amid fiery debates about the future of airpower — manned versus unmanned, mainly — in the U.S. and abroad.

• Competition between Washington and Beijing is also boiling.

Zoom in: Videos and photos flooding social media show a large, delta-wing-style aircraft with a cockpit chased by a J-20S fighter.

• Its design suggests stealth.
• Russian state media quickly amplified the visuals, dubbing it the “White Emperor.”
• Aviation Week reported that the main landing gear has the “hallmark of heavy fighter-bombers, such as the Sukhoi Su-34.”

Yes, but: Much remains unknown about the aircraft. Neither the Chinese government nor industry immediately took credit for the daytime flight.

What we’re watching: The fate of the U.S. Air Force’s futuristic fighter is in the hands of the incoming Trump administration, following Secretary Frank Kendall’s punt.

• “I don’t want to make a decision that’s going to be disrupted and reversed, potentially, by the new team,” Kendall said Dec. 19 at a Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies event.
• “I don’t want us to start industry down a specific course and then have to abruptly reverse that a few months from now.”