We have a single super hero who could possibly build a jury rigged armored suit or something similar. I very much doubt that we even have enough funds to craft a VTOL capable transport in any sense with "ground breaking new jet technology".
The POD is a drone designed to be distributed to police and authority forces so that both the boots on the ground and us have eyes on the sky to detect criminal elements. the POD is by no means over engineered, as with the size of the object we are making and the relative lack of possible features (thermographic, low light, augmented reality feeds, smart weapon assistance, an actual weapon to bolt on, I could go on) Par for the course, I think it should pretty simple, because its designed to be mass produced and handled by the lowest common denominator (It should be able to handle a drop), it is firmly grounded in reality, if a little silly for the fact that its designed for up-close and personal viewing rather then eye in the sky over-watch. It's also a first foray into aerial technology of the super variety, something that shouldn't be taken lightly.
If we really wanted to make a "small transport" which could traverse the world in hours with mere, I would go for a sub-orbital or a ballistic SSAC (Single-Stage Aero-Craft), that way we can skip the whole jet-deal and go straight to "murderously fast" by way of orbital mechanics. Pointless to pussy-foot around with baby-Drek like jet planes when we are get-damn superheros anyways.