Exercise 'High Mark-93', based on a single force concept, was held from 16 October to 16 November 1993. All the operational flying units including 22 OCU participated. The remaining training squadrons continued with their normal tasks. An elaborate umpiring orginization was set up under the overall supervision of the IG's Branch to evaluate the activities generated during the exercise.
The aim of the exercise was to create an environment in which air operations could be conducted to provide realistic and role oriented operational training to combat aircrew, fighter controllers, and other personnel of the PAF. The specific objectives of that exercise were: first, to familiarize all the personnel with their wartime role; second, to access the functioning of the Command and Control system, and finally, to create a simulated Air-Land battle scenario in coordination with the Pakistan Army.
In order to achieve these aims and objectives, the exercise was divided into different stages to avoid simultaneous execution of all types of missions thus facilitating the validation of specific existing concepts. Stage-I was designated for counter air operations, Stage-II for battlefield support operations, and Stage-III for tactical weapon delivery. The governing guidelines for the first two stages were an eastward orientation of the defence, near realistic air defence effort and ADGE, and operations in two geographically seperated battle zones. The third phase was programmed for delivering ordanance through a tactical approach on the Thal Range, on a pattern similar to exercise 'Wide Awake'.
During Stage-I of the exercise that lasted for four days, the attacking force generated 738 CAO sorties. Another 67 sorties of airfield strikes were flown during Stage-II. Thus a total of 805 CAO missions were flown during the exercise, which constituted156 raids. The raiders claimed 1,873 bombs, out of which 1,512 bombs were awarded, thereby giving a target-kill rate of 80.72%. Exercise High Mark-93 was yet another milestone for the PAF and proved to be a success in achieving the desired aims and objectives.