Parnell Jacobs, an old military pal of Jim Rhodes, discovered the original War Machine armor constructed by Tony Stark. He later utilized many technological add-ons created by mechanical wiz Stuart Clarke while working for Sunset Bain (IM vol. 3 #19-20).

It is currently not known how or where Jacobs found the armor. The hypothesis that it was the armor Jim Rhodes "lost" in time (War Machine #17) seems not to work as Parnell's armor does not have a uni-beam (like Stark's original model), while Rhodes' WM had one. Jacobs is currently at large.