diff --git a/cluster-autoscaler/main.go b/cluster-autoscaler/main.go
index 283596ddf98..f8806a94728 100644
--- a/cluster-autoscaler/main.go
+++ b/cluster-autoscaler/main.go
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/autoscaler/cluster-autoscaler/simulator/clustersnapshot/store"
 	"k8s.io/autoscaler/cluster-autoscaler/simulator/framework"
 	"k8s.io/autoscaler/cluster-autoscaler/simulator/scheduling"
+	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/features"
 	kubelet_config "k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/kubelet/apis/config"
 
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/meta"
@@ -692,6 +693,15 @@ func main() {
 	featureGate.AddFlag(pflag.CommandLine)
 	kube_flag.InitFlags()
 
+	// If the DRA flag is passed, we need to set the DRA feature gate as well. The selection of scheduler plugins for the default
+	// scheduling profile depends on feature gates, and the DRA plugin is only included if the DRA feature gate is enabled. The DRA
+	// plugin itself also checks the DRA feature gate and doesn't do anything if it's not enabled.
+	if *enableDynamicResourceAllocation && !featureGate.Enabled(features.DynamicResourceAllocation) {
+		if err := featureGate.SetFromMap(map[string]bool{string(features.DynamicResourceAllocation): true}); err != nil {
+			klog.Fatalf("couldn't enable the DRA feature gate: %v", err)
+		}
+	}
+
 	leaderElection := defaultLeaderElectionConfiguration()
 	leaderElection.LeaderElect = true
 	componentopts.BindLeaderElectionFlags(&leaderElection, pflag.CommandLine)