In ad-hoc networks with a large number of mobile participants, i.e. nodes, centralized decision-making for building the network topology becomes impracticable. At Airbus, an architecture for an ad-hoc network amongst flying platforms (e.g. commercial aircraft, satellites, high altitude platforms) incorporating free-space optical communication links has been developed. This paper presents an algorithm for a decentralized collaborative decision-making process for building the topology of this mobile ad-hoc network. The design, the implementation in an agent-based modelling tool, and the evaluation of this so-called ConOps Agent algorithm using real flight data are described.