This is probably a crazy idea, but in a way, it worked for Linux...
We have enough people on this board who "get it". We likely have plenty of contacts who are or who know soldiers and marines in the field. They know what they need more than any of us.
Maybe we need a new regiment of Pajamadeen as a sort of "working group" to solicit comments from the men and women in the field, come up with some workable ideas, perhaps put together some "proof of concept" paperwork. Maybe even come up with a prototype or at least some drawings.
I'm sure there are engineers on this board who would be willing to contribute. That and contacts in the automotive and manufacturing industries. Plenty of "nuts and bolts" mechanics too, I'd wager.
Maybe we couldn't actually get a vehicle produced, but we could start the ball rolling. I bet we could accomplish a lot.
Rather than a Linus keeping everyone on track, perhaps we could assemble a group of patriotic experts to guide things along who are representative of several key aspects.
I'm sort of thinking out loud here, but isn't this the sort of thing that makes America what it is? We don't sit around complaining that the government isn't fixing problems, we come together and do what has to be done, hauling the politicians kicking and screaming behind if necessary.
I have to admit that I would not be optomistic about such an effort's chance of success. Perhaps I am already too jaded by my experiences in military procurement and procurement politics. But I would certainly be glad to help in whatever way I could. Although an engineer, I am not an automotive or mechanical engineer. But those engineering details are quite a few steps down the process.
At this point, the biggest issue would be deciding exactly what the requirement of any new vehicle is. For example, the requirements for an armored patrol vehicle would push the vehicle to be smaller, lighter and more manueverable. Visibility would be more important than cargo capacity. The requirements of the general utility vehicle push it larger, and then by necessity a little heavier and perhaps less manueverable. A general utility vehicle's cargo would be more important relative to a patrol vehicle's. That is not to say that these issues cannot be reconciled, but hitting the right point on scale between them to compromise is very important. Or perhaps the decision that we really need two different vehicles (which I personally don't think, but a case could certainly be made).
If someone wants to start collecting information from the troops in the field on that subject, I would certainly be interested in reading it. Ask them about they think an armored peacekeeping vehicle ought to be able to do. I fear that most of the input would be 'tainted' by limitations of the equipment they already have experience with.