How many missiles can be shot in two minutes?

• A. Two missiles
• B. Three missiles
• C. Four missiles
• D. Five missiles

Answer: (B)

The key idea here is rate of fire and the time each firing cycle requires. After you fire a missile, you must complete the next-stage steps to prepare for another shot—arming, reloading or reloading the launcher, reacquiring or confirming targets, and stabilizing the system. Those steps take a fixed amount of time, so you can only fit a certain number of firing cycles into a two-minute window.

If you estimate the cycle time per shot to be about 40 seconds, you can fit roughly three firing cycles in two minutes (120 seconds ÷ 40 seconds ≈ 3). Pushing to a fourth shot would require shortening the cycle time, which isn’t feasible while maintaining safety and proper procedure. So three missiles in two minutes is the practical maximum, which is why three is the best answer.