A method comprising: periodically receiving, by a central system controller of a wireless communications network, link status information from each of a plurality network nodes of the wireless communications network, wherein the link status information from each of the network nodes reflects current conditions regarding each of one or more currently available communications links between the network node and one or more respective other of the plurality of network nodes, and wherein one or more of the network nodes consist of airborne wireless data communications platforms; periodically receiving, by the central system controller, network routing constraints from one or more network operations centers of the wireless communications network, wherein the network routing constraints reflect routing requirements applicable to one or more subsets of data traffic carried over the wireless communications network; periodically receiving, by the central system controller, resource allocation information from one or more of the one or more network operations centers, wherein the resource allocation information reflects current bandwidth allocations of one or more of the communications links; periodically determining, by the central system controller, a current constellation topology reflecting current positions of the one or more network nodes that consist of airborne wireless data communications platforms; periodically determining, by the central system controller, updates for one or more of a plurality of network path routes, wherein each network path route consists of a data communications path between a respective pair of endpoints of the wireless communications network, and each path route includes one or more of the communications links and one or more of the network nodes, and wherein each path route update is determined based at least in part on one or more of the periodically received link status information regarding the respective links of the path route, the periodically received network routing constraints, the periodically received resource allocation information regarding one or more of the respective links of the path route, and the periodically determined current constellation topology; and generating an updated forwarding table for each of the network nodes, wherein each forwarding table includes a plurality of route entries, wherein each route entry specifies a next hop network node to which each network node of a respective path route is to route respective data packets traveling over that path route, and wherein the updated forwarding table is generated based on updates to the network path routes; and wherein the updates for the one or more of the plurality of network path routes are determined at times based on respective changes in the one or more of the periodically received link status information regarding the respective links of the path route, the periodically received network routing constraints, the periodically received resource allocation information regarding one or more of the respective links of the path route, and the periodically determined current constellation topology, and the path routes are thereby dynamically updated in real-time based on changing conditions of the communications links. periodically receiving, by a central system controller of a wireless communications network, link status information from each of a plurality network nodes of the wireless communications network, wherein the link status information from each of the network nodes reflects current conditions regarding each of one or more currently available communications links between the network node and one or more respective other of the plurality of network nodes, and wherein one or more of the network nodes consist of airborne wireless data communications platforms; periodically receiving, by the central system controller, network routing constraints from one or more network operations centers of the wireless communications network, wherein the network routing constraints reflect routing requirements applicable to one or more subsets of data traffic carried over the wireless communications network; periodically receiving, by the central system controller, resource allocation information from one or more of the one or more network operations centers, wherein the resource allocation information reflects current bandwidth allocations of one or more of the communications links; periodically determining, by the central system controller, a current constellation topology reflecting current positions of the one or more network nodes that consist of airborne wireless data communications platforms; periodically determining, by the central system controller, updates for one or more of a plurality of network path routes, wherein each network path route consists of a data communications path between a respective pair of endpoints of the wireless communications network, and each path route includes one or more of the communications links and one or more of the network nodes, and wherein each path route update is determined based at least in part on one or more of the periodically received link status information regarding the respective links of the path route, the periodically received network routing constraints, the periodically received resource allocation information regarding one or more of the respective links of the path route, and the periodically determined current constellation topology; and