Council tenants are off to the High Court on Monday over Ministry of Defence plans to station surface-to-air missiles on the roof of their tower block during the Olympics.
Residents of the Fred Wigg Tower in Leytonstone, east London, are fighting to prevent the ground-based air defence system being deployed above their heads.
They are applying for permission to seek judicial review on the grounds their human rights have been breached because they were not consulted fairly and properly over the proposals.
They also want an injunction prohibiting deployment until their legal challenge is heard.
Ministry of Defence officials want to deploy the weapons across six sites in the capital.
Martin Howe, senior partner with solicitors Howe and Co, said residents of the block's 117 flats, which are home to hundreds of children, were "very afraid" of the proposals.
At London's High Court today, the Defence Secretary is expected to be accused by the local residents' association of breaching Article 8 and Article 1 of Protocol 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protect an individual's right to private life and peaceful enjoyment of their home.
The residents' lawyers will also argue an equality impact assessment (EIA) should be carried out which takes into account the needs of disabled residents.
Mr Howe said: "It is incredible that the MoD think it acceptable to present women, children and men living in a block of flats in a densely-populated residential area of east London with the fait accompli of having a live high explosive missile salvo above their heads whilst they go about their daily chores and whilst they sleep at night.
"Security of the Olympics is, of course, extremely important but could the MoD not find any other way of protecting the Olympic village than by putting the lives of hundreds of innocent council tenants at risk by turning their homes into a military battlefield position?
"The MoD has had seven years to work out its security plans and it needs to rethink this issue swiftly."
The missiles, including rapier and high-velocity systems, will be in place from mid-July, the MoD confirmed last week.
A helicopter carrier, HMS Ocean, will also be moored in the River Thames and RAF Typhoon jets will be stationed ready at RAF Northolt and Puma helicopters at a Territorial Army centre in Ilford.
The other sites chosen to guard against any Olympic air threat are the Lexington Building in Tower Hamlets, east London; Blackheath Common and Oxleas Wood, both in south-east London; William Girling Reservoir in the Lea Valley reservoir chain in Enfield; and Barn Hill at Netherhouse Farm in Epping Forest.
Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said the ground-based air defence systems were "just one part of a comprehensive, multi-layered air security plan" which would provide "both reassurance and a powerful deterrent".
They would go ahead despite objections from a "small number of activists", he said.
A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "The government has reserved the right to extend the airspace restrictions, and the deployment of military assets, including ground-based air defence, if an assessment of the threat level warrants it."