Powered by a hybrid electric engine, Jake can move stealthily in combat and with minimal disruption in crowded marketplaces. Each platform can also serve as a source of electrical power for the military, something always in short supply in forward operating positions.

Visionary military leaders like the Army’s retiring Vice Chief of Staff, Gen. Richard Cody, have called the Jake “the warrior transformer.” Interestingly, the more junior the personnel, the greater the appreciation for the contribution such devices might make, now and in the future. Some preparing to deploy to Iraq have, when shown an early Jake prototype, pleaded with Mr. Strong to let them take it along.

So, what’s the problem? The very qualities that make the Jake such a potentially transformative asset cause many in the institutional military to recoil from its early adoption. Like IBM, which once famously failed to appreciate that the day of the large, immensely expensive mainframe computer was giving way to the era of PCs and proliferating software, the armed forces need to appreciate that Jake represents the advent of an era when “networked” or “distributed” warfare is the norm – not something to which lip-service is paid.

For their part, many defense contractors recognize that Jake could enable them finally to overcome the weight-barrier to equipping foot soldiers with more firepower, technologies designed to counter roadside bombs and snipers and the integrated support of unmanned aerial vehicles. In the absence of a stated military requirement for Jake, however, few are willing to provide the $10 million required to develop and equip the first dozen prototypes needed to evaluate this platform and begin evolving concepts for its utilization. As things stand now, without a change of heart in the Pentagon or intervention from Capitol Hill, the whole effort to realize the Jake’s promise could come to naught.

There is, as a result, an opportunity for the American people to help. Find out more about the Jake at www.AmericanAgility.com. If you like what you see there, make a contribution to allow Russ Strong and his team to overcome the inertia that has for too long kept these assets from saving the lives, and contributing to the success, of our brave troops in harm’s way.